Freedom Fighters
by Dawn Totadile
Summary: My version of how to combine every show, and a few of the games, of Sonic the Hedgehog that I've ever watched. I do apologize for the inaccuracy on some parts, but eh, this is a fanfic. So follow The Sonic Underground as they help the Knothole Freedom Fighters to defeat Robotnik, and find out what exactly Snively's hiding from his uncle, as well as the rest of Mobius.
1. Episode 1

A blue arctic fox was lying on her back on a small hill about fifteen miles from the dark city of Robotropolis. Her mismatched eyes were half closed as she gazed at the city, wondering what it had been like before the days of Robotnik. She wore a dark blue t-shirt and a black vest, as well as a set of black sweats. She also wore a set of blue and white shoes that were perfect for running. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and her twin tails were tucked under her to make her appear normal. She sighed as she noticed the dark cloud growing over the once beautiful city that had once been the capital of the Kingdom of Rings. She had been sent to this Robotropolis to keep watch on one of the royal princes that were still alive, a green hedgehog named Manic Hedgehog.

"ACE! Are you even listening to me?"

The blue fox glanced over to where the hedgehog in question was. 'Now how does that saying go? Speak of the devil and he shall come?' She sighed and sat up. "Yes, I am, Manic."

"Alright, then what'd I say?" Manic Hedge was a relaxed kind of hedgehog usually, but when you needed him, he could be serious, just like his brother, Sonic. At this point, Manic was concerned about two of his best friends, both of which were girls.

"You want me to get Vixen, and then both of us meet you back here and we go meet your bro and sis over in Knothole near the Kingdom of Acorns city of Robotropolis. After we meet them, you want me to use my special skills, knowledge, and abilities to see if I can find out what happened to Vixen's family, which will be no problem as I can tell you right now where they both are located." Ace Lunar Dreamstar, as she called herself, just gave the bewildered hedgehog a smirk. "What? You know that I'm skilled at finding what I need to, and my main goal has always been returning the royals to power."

Manic blinked and then rubbed the back of his spikey green head. "Ah, jeez… alright… anything you can tell me now that's useful?"

Ace smiled kindly to the young hedgehog as she stood up just shorter than him. "Of course, Manic. I can tell you that your parents will soon be reunited with you and your siblings. I can also tell you that your father is closer than you think and that we should pick him up when we get Vixen Gears." Manic's eyes widened in shock. He had yet to hear about his father since the whole time people were mainly talking about his mother. "I can also say that Vixen's little brother can also be considered your little bro thanks to how he and Sonic get along."

"WHAT?"

Freedom Fighters

Deep in the dark sewers of Robotropolis in the Kingdom of Rings, a faint clanking is being heard. A pale orange and yellow furred fox wearing a tool belt, a brown set of broken goggles, and a dirty pink jacket. Her light sky blue eyes were dull from war, but still had a light as she made her way to the sound's source as quietly as she could. A soft smile reached her face as she came upon the younger fox known as Ace. "Heya, Ace, wazzup?"

Ace smirked. "Manic wants us to meet his family, and I need to collect his dad from the sewer system." Ace tended to speak in a language all her own sometimes, as though she did try to speak like others. Manic and Vixen could understand her more than anyone else because they had been friends with her since she was a child, though she was still a teenager now. "You in?"

"Why not. So, who's his dad?"

"You know the Jack of all trades?"

"The recluse thief that only likes us kids? Yeah, so?"

"That's him, King Jules Hedgehog, or rather, Jules the Hedgehog."

"Go fig."

"Exactly." Ace smiled and let out a small chuckle. "I'll meet you at the meeting place. I'm going after the Jack."

"Meet you there."

***Freedom Fighters***

"Yo, Jules, you in or am I barking down the wrong sewer pipe?" Ace grinned as she heard something drop. She then dodged a small boomerang like object. "Hehe, ya missed old timer!"

"I'll give you old timer, Ace Dreamstar!" Ace dropped to the ground before the tall green hedgehog could grab her. It helped that she was still smaller than most Mobians her age. The older Mobian tripped over her and was sent spiraling across the sewer. "Ow." He muttered after landing upside down on the sewer walkway.

"Nice landing, your majesty." Ace mocked with sarcasm as she extended a hand towards the green hedgehog.

"Shut up and explain how you know who I am." Ace smirked as she helped the king of Rings up.

"Let's just say that it's my job to know where and who you royals are. You're the father of Sonic, Sonia, and Manic Hedgehog, one of which happens to be my best friend, so I'd really like it if you would get over your fears and come on."

"What fears?"

"That he'll hate you for not telling him." Jules shook his head. He knew this fox was trouble from the moment that he had met her. She was too smart for anyone's own good. "Now come on. We're going to meet Sonia and Sonic tomorrow as well as some other important rebel leaders. Are you coming or not?"

Jules frowned at the girl but sighed in defeat. "Fine."

Ace smirked. "I knew you'd see it my way."

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace was grinning as she walked into the secret rebels' base in the kingdom of Rings. Behind her was a disheveled tall green hedgehog wearing a dark brown cloak. Manic looked up at him with some concern. "Don't ask, Manic. I'll explain it once we get to Knothole." Manic nodded slowly as he realized that the Jack of all trades sounded like him in a way.

"Right." Manic then looked towards his two fox friends. "So… we all set to go to Knothole?"

"Yep." The girls chorused.

Jules sighed, nodded and took his hood down. "Fine, but we are being careful, right? Robotnik's gonna love the chance to…"

"Yeah, we know. Don't worry, your royal kingliness." Ace chuckled as Manic and Jules looked at her annoyed. "You and Manic are top priority in our group while us foxes remain unknown, trust me though, I know we'll make it without much trouble."

"Knock on wood!" Vixen chuckled as she grabbed a piece of wood she carried around for such an emergency.

"You are so superstitious."

"Only around you, blue girl. Honestly, you are such bad luck when you say that phrase."

"Yeah, but at least with this I know what I'm talking about, and I know that we'll find your little brother if we go meet Sonic and Sonia." This made the orange fox shut up as the four of them started on their trip to Knothole in the kingdom of Acorns.


	2. Episode 2

Ace looked up at the tower nearby as Manic and Vixen climbed out. Jules already had his hood back on. While they had traveled, Jules had explained everything to Manic about being his father, and why he had gone into hiding. Vixen looked up to where Ace was looking. "Know this place, Ace?"

"Yeah. I was born here."

"You're a citizen of the Acorn Kingdom?" Manic looked at his friend with some confusion. He had known her for years, and yet, he still didn't know her family… well he had seen her dad once by accident, but didn't know what he looked like as he had bee n wearing a green cloak and was slightly taller than Ace. "Any family left, Ace?"

"Yeah. My dad's still flesh… my grandfather is called crazy… my great uncle is someone that no one wants to deal with… my family's a wreck. I don't want to deal with a lot of the trouble they've all caused, but… dad's trying to fix everything, and grandpa's trying to train heroes by looking like a villain… it's complicated."

"Looking like a villain?" Jules asked as they started towards the nearby forest. "Ace, who exactly are you, really?"

Ace looked at Jules with a sad soft smile as a troop passed them by. Ace then looked at the troops. "I'm just a kid trying to fix my family's mistakes."

***Freedom Fighters***

Manic had his friends and father wait for him in the middle of the forest while he went to get Sonic and Sally. Ace kept looking around at the trees, as though expecting something to drop out of it. "What are you looking for?" Vixen muttered.

"My aunt. Rumor has it, she was replanted around here. I'm just trying to find out where Tails planted her."

"Who's Tails? And what do you mean by 'Replanted'?"

"I'll leave Sonic and Manic to let you in on that. I'll be doing enough revealing before another year passes." Ace smirked as she spotted a strange tree with red sparkles on the leaves. 'There you are…'

"YO, guys!" Ace and the others turned to see Manic, Sonic, Sonia, and Sally. Sonic was a blue hedgehog with a specialty for speed. Sonia was a high class purple hedgehog with a need for refinement and order. Sally was the princess of the kingdom of Acorns, and the main leader of the Freedom Fighters in that sector.

"Hey, guys." Ace smiled. Then she started chuckling. "Oh man, now I really feel out of place."

"Oh? Why's that?" Sonic asked. He started tapping his foot with impatience. No one had told him that this blue fox was made of randomness.

Ace gave a dangerous smile as she started running away, knowing full well that Manic and Vixen would start chasing her just like when they were kids. "Because I'm the only one not royal, ain't that right, Princess Veronica Prower, King Jules, Royal Triplets of the Rings, and Princess Sally?" She started running faster as Vixen started chasing her.

"I TOLD YOU TO NEVER CALL ME BY MY REAL NAME EVER AGAIN!" Vixen yelled as she chased the two tailed arctic fox. Manic couldn't help but laugh as his best friends started chasing each other. "GET BACK HERE, ACE LUNAR DREAMSTAR!"

Sonic looked off at the two of them with shock as they ran towards Knothole. "Did she say 'Prower'?"

***Freedom Fighters***

Tails had to jump out of the way as the two foxes ran towards him. He couldn't help but smile as he noticed that one of them was younger than him and they were just playing. Ace noticed him and decided to take advantage of it. "Come on, Prower, catch me if you can!"

"OOOH, I'm gonna get you and tie your tails together, Dreamstar!"

"Prower?" Tails asked as the others entered the small village. "Oh, hey, guys. Who are they?"

Sonic was shaking his head with confusion. "Apparently one's a princess and the other's… what is she, a thief, Manic?"

"No way, man. Ace may be good at stealing from bots, but she hates thieving for no reason. Ace's specialty is intel. She can find out anything and everything if we asked her."

"Did you ever ask her about mother?" Sonia asked in a nervous voice. Sally knew that it must be hard for them to know that their mother was still out there, but not be able to find her.

"No way. She's been busy with so many other things that I totally forgot to ask her about mom." Manic shrugged as Ace started spinning her tails to fly out of the way as Vixen tried to catch her.

"How long do you think it'll take for Tails and Vixen to put two and two together, Manic?" Ace asked as she landed next to him with a cocky smile. Vixen had crashed into Tails and the two were helping eachother up.

"That depends… what's it equal in this equation?" Sonia asked as she noticed the two talking. Tails' tails suddenly shot up in shock at something that Vixen had said. Tails then suddenly hugged Vixen, which shocked everyone in the group but Ace and Sonic.

"It equals siblings, Princess Sonia, it equals the Prower siblings." Ace smirked.

Tails then brought his sister over to meet his "Big Brother, Sonic". He then laughed at the idea that they had even traded siblings for a while. Manic had taken care of Vixen, and Sonic had taken care of Tails, both sets acting like siblings.

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace soon found herself sitting on a treetop looking out to the city of Robotropolis. "Quite a view, huh?" She turned and found Sonic was talking to her.

"Oh, hey. Yeah… it is…"

"Know someone from there?"

"I was born there. My dad's there too…"

Sonic sighed. "Gonna be honest, any Mobian there is most likely robotosized."

"Good thing that my father's no normal person then."

"Yeah? Who is he?"

"You won't like the answer. I'll just say you hate his guts almost as much as Robotnik, but that's because my dad's a double agent and he plays the villain too well."

"Funny, I haven't met any foxes that are…"

"Now who said anything about foxes?" Ace smirked deviously. It sent a chill up Sonic's spines. He shuddered involuntarily. "Relax, I promise, my dad may hold a small grudge against ya, but not anything worth destroying the planet over."

"Why'd he hold a grudge against me? And who'd be stupid enough to even go in there to be a double agent?"

Ace gave a weak grimace at this comment. "A misunderstood genius with family issues." She then stood up. I've gotta go get let him know I'm in the area. Tell Manic that I'm going scouting for info. He'll know what I mean. I've got a man in every kingdom."

"Even the kingdom of rings?"

"I was just there, so I'd be the man in there since I'm usually there."

Sonic frowned. This arctic two tailed fox was too cryptic for his liking. "So you're just leaving?"

"I'll be back by morning."

***Freedom Fighter***

The sun was already gone by an hour when Ace made her way through the dark shadowy city of Robotropolis. Ace made her way through the cold lifeless alley ways towards the center building. She glared at what had once been the palace with contempt. "You ruined everything, Robotnik. We'll stop you…"

She suddenly noticed a squadron of Swat Bots coming towards her. She shrank back into the dark shadows and silently thanked god that the robots never did a scan around town. She jumped into the sewer hole that was nearby and made her way towards the palace from underground.

She made her way under the palace and into where an old abandoned lab was. She looked up into the grate under the lab. She lifted it slowly and looked around for guards, not that there ever were any, but it still paid to be over cautious. "Oh good… coast's clear…"

"Not quite." Ace's eyes opened as she turned around to see a human who was slightly taller than her. He was mostly bald, save for a few stray bits of hair that stood up. His usually bright blue eyes were dulled grey from war and illness, and he sported many bruises, particularly around his head from Robotnik's beatings that he received. He wore a green military uniform with no medals or ribbons, as he had hidden all of those years ago. He glared at the arctic fox as he held a gun that was pointed at her. "A long way from the forest, aren't you?"

Ace slowly got up, her mismatched blue and green eyes glaring at Snively Robotnik as she left the safety of the sewer grate. "Maybe… but it's never stopped me before."

***Freedom Fighters***

"… and then she said she'd be back by morning. What's with this girl, Manic?" Sonic asked in the war room where the main leaders of the resistance, and King Jules, were gathered.

"Yo, Ace does this all the time. She's probably scoping out the place."

"Yeah, but on her own?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So! Everyone in this Robotropolis has been ROBOTOSIZED! Whoever she thinks is out there for her to find is already turned into a robot!" Sonic was aggravated that his brother wasn't listening. Surely he was able to understand that whatever this Ace person was, she wasn't able to get robotosized citizens to think on their own all by herself, right?

"Ace hasn't failed me yet. Look, how about you just give her to dawn. If she doesn't return by then, me and Vixen will find her, most likely on her way back in the sewers."

"Manic, you have way too much confidence in this girl."

Manic frowned and started tapping his foot like his brother. "So? You have a lot of confidence in your speed. Sonia's confident in her social skills with the upper class. Why can't I be confident in my friends, who I will remind you that I've known since Feral took her into our guild. Feral said he knew and trusted her dad, and Feral doesn't trust people easy."

"Manic, I've been here since forever! No one's alive in there except for Snively and Robuttnik!"

"Who's Snively?"

***Freedom Fighters***

"You know this was a stupid move for you to make, right?" Snively said as the two circled each other, Snively with his gun, Ace with a sword made out of recycled scrap metal. "Making your way into the center of Robotropolis in this kingdom? And with me and Robotnik here?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at the strange two tailed fox.

Ace smirked dangerously. "I've seen stupider moves."

"…" Snively gritted his teeth and shot the laser. Ace ducked out of the way as it hit a security bot that was hovering right behind her. "Can you be more obvious?"

She looked up to see him offering his hand to her to help her up. She gratefully accepted it. "Sorry… Collin." Though she thought of the human as her father, she didn't know if he thought of her as his daughter. Collin was his original name that his father, Ivo Eggman, had given him. He had given up that name when he had started playing the double agent against Robotnik, as well as the respect of almost the whole planet of Mobius. Only the kings and the queen of Rings knew of what he was doing, anyone else who had known was currently robotosized or just Ace.

"It's fine, Ace. It's good to see you again." He brought the young fox in for a hug, which she happily accepted. "I haven't seen you in years." He pulled away from her to take a look at the child. "My how you've grown."

"Thanks. I missed you."

"I missed you too." In his mind he desperately wanted to just take her and hide her away from all the war and dangers that the world currently offered. He didn't know if she thought the same way that he did, but he considered her his daughter. "What are you doing here?"

Ace smiled happily and sat down on an old examination table that had obviously been burnt in a fire. "I ran into an oracle that told me how to defeat your uncle."

"He did? Was it the oracle of Delphius?" He had heard about the prophecy of the council of four, and unlike the three hedgehogs and his uncle, he had determined it to mean the council of the four kingdoms.

"Yep. He said that I needed to track down the royals and return them to their families. I've already started."

"Oh?"

"Yep. King of thieves is with his kids, just need the queen of magic and speed and then I've got a whole set!" She grinned like the little girl she was inside. Snively shook his head. He only knew of Ace who could survive in this dark world and still remain as a light. "I also found the royal children of the Gears kingdom. Prince Miles and Princess Veronica are together now, but Miles doesn't know he's a prince yet… at least I didn't tell him yet that is." She chuckled as she thought about the shock that would go into the young fox when he found out he was a royal.

"Of course you did… I take it that you're staying in Knothole?"

"If prince Sonic doesn't kick me out, yeah. I don't think he trusts me. I did leave right away though. I have Manic and his girlfriend, Vixen's trust though." She didn't think that she should reveal that Vixen was Veronica just yet, at least not so long as her father was in trouble here in Robotropolis.

"That's good. They friends of yours?"

"Yes. I trust them. I'd even be willing to introduce you to them… if you're okay with that…" Snively gave a weak smile towards his daughter, his greatest creation, and biggest lab accident. He remembered the day she had been created.

 _It was one of those days after he had been asked to be a double agent. Prince Miles of the kingdom of gears was about a year old at this time, and already the little genius was already tinkering with things. Princess Sally was with her best friend, whom very few knew to be Prince Sonic of the rings. They were playing over at Sir Charles lab since there was a great war going on. Snively had just been assigned to his uncle's regiment to keep an eye on him. He passed as much information to the royals as he could, but even he could not stop the destruction of two other kingdoms, the kingdom of Rings from where Sonic was from, and the Kingdom of Chaos, where the young prince Shadow had been born in._

 _His uncle had an army of troops marching over Collin's private lab. He had been Sir Collin, of the four Kingdoms. A knight and scientist, much like his friend, Sir Charles. When the army had started it's march over Collin's lab, a few of the chemicals had fallen and crashed down together onto some of his DNA from an old experiment. While the fire had started to consume his lab, Collin tried to clean up the mess, unaware of the intensity of the fire. Suddenly, he found himself being knocked out of the way of some falling support beams. He was shocked to find a young arctic fox with two tails, blonde hair, and a blue and green eye, was dragging him out of the way of danger. When they were in the clear, she explained what she knew of how she was created and said, "… but I don't know what I was created for."_

 _"That's obvious... you were created to help people." Colin smiled as he picked up the baby fox that had obviously gained the mind of a genius. "Now all you need is a name."_

 _"So… I'm an Ace in the hole?"_

 _"Yes… yes you are, Ace."_

Collin looked up to Ace and shook his head with a sigh. "I'd love to go, but I'm afraid that no one will trust me save for you. I may have helped to lay the foundations for Knothole, but they still believe I know nothing of it. No, I need to keep up my work here and keep sending you information. I'll organize a breakout from my end and into the sewers. You remember what to look for?"

"Yeah… just don't get killed… or robotosized… we could get you to help fix the derobotisizer, ya know."

Collin gave a weak smile to his young genius daughter. "Ace… unless you can find a way to convince everyone that I'll do no harm…"

"I could kidnap you."

"How would you get past the guards?"

Ace grinned dangerously again. "I'll think of something."

***Freedom Fighters***

The sun was rising as Ace made her way back to Knothole. She had gotten more than enough info for the resistance. Her father had supplied her with more than she had ever thought possible. He had given her supply runs, prisoner transfers, and even managed to give her the instructions to make a portal to the void where King Max Acorn and Ixis Naugus, the sorcerer, were kept. Ace couldn't help but feel giddy as she skipped her way past an annoyed looking Sonic the Hedgehog and headed right towards the War hut where Sally and the others were still talking.

"Hey." Ace stopped and turned towards Sonic. "Where were you?"

"Talking to dad. He gave me some info and a set of blueprints that we'll need to get started on if we want to ever get King Max Acorn out of the void."

"WHAT?"

Ace rubbed her left ear tenderly. "Ow. What? It's not like I said I'm a robot or something. What's wrong with what I got?" She frowned. 'He doesn't trust me yet. I'm moving too fast for the prince of speed… hehe, that's ironic.'

"Just who exactly do you know that can get you that kind of info?"

"My dad. Didn't you hear me? Jeez. Is the sound from my mouth too slow for the prince of speed to process?" Ace's tails straightened out and then flopped to the ground as though lifeless. "I don't need to repeat myself all the time. Look, I'll give Princess Sally the info and you guys can do whatever to check it, just hurry up. I'm planning on kidnapping Snively so that we can get him to help make a derobotisizer for us."

Sonic blinked in shock. Some of the others nearby had gathered around, including Sally, Sonia, Manic, Vixen, and King Jules. "How are you going to do that?"

"Do what? Kidnap him? Or get him to help us? I can personally assure you that he'll be more than willing to help us with the derobotisizer, Sonic." She shoved some papers and a disc into Sally's open hands and then whistled sharply. "SONG!" She called out. A moment later, a hoverboard appeared with her light and dark blue colors.

"What the?"

"Any more foolish questions?" She gave a harsh glare.

"Can you wait at least? Please?" Ace looked to the owner of the voice. It was Princess Sally. Ace grabbed the hoverboard from the air and it shut down.

"I can only wait for so long. My father can't pretend to be a monster forever. He'll slip, and the moment he does is the moment that Robotnik will have him robotosized. I'll help you to understand what all needs to be done to bring your father back, your highness." She slowly started to walk towards the deeper part of the forest. "I'm gonna take a nap first. Manic?"

"Yeah, Ace?"

"Call me if ya need me. Meantime, try and see if you can get people to understand that I'm just trying to help."

"Right, Ace." Manic nodded solemnly. He knew how sensitive Ace was due to her having to live in another kingdom away from her father, as well as being one of the youngest members of the thieves guild. "Don't worry, Ace. We'll get your dad out too."

Ace gave a small smile as her tails started to regain life in them. "Thanks, Manic." Ace then ran to a nearby tall tree and started climbing it. "I'm gonna take a nap."

Sonic and the others looked up the tree in confusion. Then he looked to Tails. "Do all two foxes think they live in trees?" He chuckled, remembering how he had met his best friend and adopted little brother.

"Sonic!" Tails whined as he also remembered having once thought he was a bird. The two of them then burst into laughter, confusing the rest of their friends.


	3. Episode 3

It had been nearly a week since Manic and his friends had shown up to the small village of Knothole. King Jules was already getting along with his three children, as well as the rest of the village. Vixen and Tails were working with Rotor the walrus on the portal that would bring back the king of Acorns from the void. Ace was still a bit of a loner, but Manic and Vixen explained it was because she was still afraid of what had happened the last time she had been surrounded by a lot of people other than the thieves guild. Apparently, they had beaten her up because she looked weird. Tails could sympathize with her on that. Since then she had always had problems trusting anyone other than Feral, Manic, Vixen, and her father.

Ace looked out towards the city of Robotropolis from the tree she had made into her little home. It was far enough away from everyone that she didn't feel panicked, and yet it was still in the village. Her ears twitched to a sound that she suddenly heard. "What's up, Sonic?"

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Ace turned towards the blue hedgehog that was standing on the makeshift floor of her treehouse.

"You always know when I'm there! How?"

"Easy. You're the only one fast enough to make a whoosh sound as you go through the leaves to reach me. Now what's up?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to check on you…" A beeping noise interrupted the hedgehog. "What's that?"

Ace was already racing to her backpack and pulled out a small watch. She hit a button. "Collin? What's going on? What's the emergency?" Her eyes filled with panic.

"Collin?" Sonic whispered as he listened in. Obviously, Ace was too worried to care that Sonic was listening in.

To Sonic's dismay and shock, the voice at the other end of the watch was nasally and definitely familiar! "Ace, thank goodness. Are you out of the city?"

"Yes, what's going on? Are you … by the master emerald! Collin, you're bleeding!"

"I'm fine, Ace. Just promise me that you'll keep everyone in Knothole today, please! He found out! He's chasing me through the city with his robots! I…" The screen glitched and Ace started to tear up.

"Collin? Collin Eggman?"

The screen fixed itself for a moment more. "Robotosizer blueprints … usual… place… love you… little girl…" The screen fizzled once more and Ace found herself looking at a message that said that the communicator she had been trying to reach had been destroyed.

"Collin?" Her voice wasn't the usual one with confidence and attitude that she usually had in public. It was now softer, slightly higher pitched. "Collin Seedar Eggman? Are you there?" The screen still didn't respond. "Daddy?" Tears started to flow freely from her eyes for a moment. Then she glared as the tears kept racing down her light blue fur. "No. I'm not putting up with this! This is not happening!" Ace ran towards the edge of her treehouse and jumped off the edge. "SONG!" She called out. Instantly, the blue hoverboard raced to her and caught her under her feet.

"Ace!" She looked up to see a concerned looking Sonic.

"Keep everyone in Knothole. I'm going after my dad!" She stomped her right foot which was on the back of the board and it started speeding off. 'Hang on, Daddy, I'm coming.'

***Freedom Fighters***

Snively looked up into the face of terror, and for the first time in years, he wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid of his uncle. Nor was he afraid of being robotosized. He took slow breaths as the pain in his small Mobian sized body refrained him from doing a lot after the beating he had just received. 'I hope Ace doesn't do anything rash… I wonder if there's a God out there… hmm… maybe he'll be merciful and let me take all of Ace's punishment… Ace is such a good girl… always so caring and considerate… too young for such a violent world… all of those kids are… I'm just sorry that I failed everyone…'

"… so tell me who you were sending those messages to!" Robotnik had just finished a rant that had lasted an hour after beating Snively to a bloody mess. He was surprised that Snively was just staring at him through the jail bars instead of cowering like usual.

"You really want to know?" Snively chuckled darkly, though it was a short chuckle do to his ribs being bruised or broken. At this point, he had no real clue about what was hurting him anymore. It was an amusing thing to think about, seeing as how he had originally gone to school to be a doctor with a robotics degree so that he'd be able to help his patients with his inventions. 'It doesn't matter if I tell him about Ace now… she's grown up and is a very impressive woman in her own right. She could probably stop him anyway…' He felt a heavy pressure on his mind as darkness seemed to cloud his vision. "I… was talking… to… my … daughter…" With that, Snively slumped on the chair of his cell, falling into the unconsciousness that threatened to snuff out his life.

"You don't have a daughter, you pathetic little pest!" Robotnik yelled, feeling like he had been tricked out of the answer. He left the jail area to leave his nephew to die. "Swat bots, make sure that pathetic piece of slime stays in his cell. I'll check on him again in a few hours."

"Yes sir, Doctor Robotnik." The two sentry drones chorused in their metallic voices. They stood outside the doors to the jail, not thinking to check on the prisoner, as they were sure that they were at the only entrance to the jail.

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace's silver and blue aviators' goggles were strapped over her eyes as she surfed through the air. She had two goals and one plan. Not usually something she liked, considering she usually had multiple plans, but considering what was at risk, she was willing to go with it.

"Got a plan?"

Ace blinked in shock. She turned her head slowly and noticed Sonic was racing right alongside her with Sally in his hands. "Prince Sonic? Princess Sally? What are you two doing here?"

"Sonic told me what happened, and though we don't really like Snively, we're willing to help you rescue him." Sally grimaced. 'I just hope she knows what she's doing…'

Ace grinned as they entered the city. "Thanks, you guys. Dad's most likely gonna be kept in the jail."

"How do you know?" Sonic asked as they stopped in the junkyard to hide from the swat bots.

"Because, dad's no squealer, and Robotnik thinks that he can get dad to talk with torture since he'd never get the information from a robotosized version of him."

***Freedom Fighters***

Snively managed to open his eyes slightly at the sound of a clicking of some sort. He assumed it was Robotnik, there to finally kill him. He let out a small, weak, huff of a laugh as he noticed how wrong he was. "Wasn't… expecting… company…"

"Don't talk, dad. We'll get you out." Ace was already working on picking the lock with her lock pick set that she had gotten from Manic one Christmas. Snively's eyes opened a little wider at these words before they faltered again. She had called him "Dad".

"Ace… my daughter… such… a good girl…" Snively gave a weak smile as the darkness crept in on him again. "… should've… left me… though…"

"Not happening, Dad." Ace muttered as she finished picking the lock. She turned at a whoosh sound from overhead in the vents she had come from. "Get it?"

"Yes, how's he… oh my gosh…!" Sally's eyes widened as she saw the condition that Snively was in, he was worse than she had thought. While Ace had started working on the locks, she had sent Sonic and Sally to pick up the disk her father had left her with the schematics for the Robotosizer. "Ace… he looks like…"

"I'm not letting him die on me so easily." Ace's voice was strong and confident as she picked up the weak and broken figure of her father. "Sonic, get Sally and those plans back to Knothole before we get caught. I'll get dad out… somehow…"

"No way are we leaving you, Ace. My bro, Manic, would have a fit! Not to mention Vixen and my old man too!"

"Fine, then come back for us. Just get Sally and those plans back, ASAP! They can change the whole fight!"

"Right." With that, Sonic the Hedgehog zipped up into the air vents from which the three had come from with Sally in his arms.

Ace sighed in relief and started to use her tails to help her fly a little, something she rarely did. She managed to use them to get enough height to push Collin into the vent and climbed in after him. She then slowly, and carefully, dragged him towards the exit from which she had come. She paused once when she heard Robotnik yell about Snively escaping, and that he should scrap the swat bots he had left to guard his nephew. Ace didn't move again until she was sure that Robotnik was nowhere near her and her father. She then started pulling again and was almost to the exit when she saw a blue and green blur. Her eyes widened and then turned into a glare as she looked at Sonic and Manic.

"I thought I told you… ugh, never mind, just help me with my dad." Sonic held Ace's board steady while Manic helped her to lift him onto it. Suddenly the air was filled with lasers. "Shoot! Manic, evasive! Sonic, get out of here! Meet you in Knothole!" The boys nodded and zoomed off as Ace made her hoverboard fly higher into the sky.

She looked around, making sure that the boys escaped before heading out herself. Sure, her father needed help, but she knew that his mission would have been in vain if Ace didn't make sure that the princes were safe first… that and she'd never forgive herself for letting one of her best friends, and his brother, get hurt helping her.

She sighed in relief as she saw Manic's signal, a flash of light from a metal object, tell her that they were at the edge of the city and close enough to safety. Ace picked up her father's limp body from her board and placed him on her back like a backpack. "Hang in there, daddy…" She whispered as she maneuvered 'Song' through the laser blasts and the towers. She held tightly to his hands around her neck and her tails held the rest of him onto her.

***Freedom Fighters***

Within thirty minutes of outmaneuvering the robots and their lasers, Ace was finally back in the great forest. She landed in a far off tree, just past Knothole. She had been stashing medical supplies there since she had arrived just in case of something like this happening. She set her hoverboard to act like a medical bed, hovering just above the level of the bamboo flooring she had put up. She immediately started doing what she could, bandaging up what was broken, cleaning up what was bleeding, and even just checking that his pulse was still there every few minutes.

"See, I told you. Ace is known for always being prepared and planning ahead." Ace turned to see Manic, Sonic, and a duck who appeared to be a doctor, as well as the King, Jules. "How's he doing, Ace?"

Ace bit her lip and lifted her goggles off of her eyes. "I'm not really sure… I don't have the skills to tell with this kind of damage… I feel… useless…" She was crying again as she bit her lip to keep her from sobbing aloud. The salty tears melted into her fur as she finished what she could with her first aid kit.

"We can take him down to the village and check him over in my health hut." The duck suggested. Though he didn't like it, he trusted the hedgehogs when they said that Ace could be vouched for… that and apparently Snively had delivered the blueprints for the Robotosizer so they could work on reversing the affects. "I'm Doctor Quack. I'm the local doctor."

Ace looked at him and then back to her father, who's shallow breathing was worrying her. She nodded slowly and placed a hand on her board, sending a signal through it to follow. "I'll walk him down… we won't be attacked?"

Jules smiled kindly to the young fox. "Ace, your father risked his life to make sure we got blueprints for the Robotosizer. If someone even tries it, they'll have to at least deal with me."

"Not to mention us, and Sal. Sally's already going to explain how he's always been a double agent, since Dad's gonna help her out." Sonic smiled confidently as he explained their plan.

Manic placed a hand on Ace's shoulder and smiled as well. "I've been with you this long, Ace. I'm not abandoning you just cuz your family's crazy." Ace couldn't help but cry as she hugged the green hedgehog. "Easy, Ace, easy. Everything's gonna work out. I promise. You just watch." Manic patted her back like one would to comfort a small child.

"Thank you, Manic… thank you…" The arctic fox sobbed.


	4. Episode 4

Darkness and sound were all he was able to feel. To feel sound was certainly not something that he had expected as sound shouldn't feel like anything at all! True, his uncle had beaten him up on more than one occasion, but he still felt like this time was one of the worse times. For one, he couldn't wake up. For another, he felt like a lead weight.

Voices, he kept hearing voices… "Do you think he'll be okay?" He knew that voice… it was familiar, but he hadn't heard it in years… "Julian gave him quite the beating this time… even Chuck seemed worried, and you know he barely worried about Collin in the old days." He hadn't been called that name in years… except for by Ace.

"Well from what I remember of Collin before everything hit the fan, he was a good egg. He gave fair warning to King Max and still the old squirrel wouldn't listen." That's right, Sally's father didn't head his warning about Robotnik. "He thought that he could pacify his hunger for power by making him the Chancellor of science. The foolish king had no idea what he was dealing with. King Shade was entrapped in only God knows where at this point, but still! He should have thought about it."

"Yes, he gave everyone warning. It's how Miles and Veronica were spared from being robotosized. Have you seen any of the other royals, Dr. Quack?"

"No. Not yet. At least, I don't think I have."

"I thought not. The kids say that they've caught a glimpse of their mother, and we know that King Max is in the void…"

"Yes, but Ace brought that blueprint for a portal, and I'll bet that it came from Collin."

"Oh, that's obvious now though. I mean, seriously, she risked her own safety to rescue him, so he has got to be her contact." Jules laughed lightly, trying to lighten the mood.

"How's she handling it, Jules?"

A sigh could be heard. "She's still sitting on the porch after her chores every day. Sally and Sonic have her do a few errands and missions with the others here and there, and she doesn't let it get to her so long as she's distracted. She even helps Chuck with working on the Robotosizer and reverse engineering it. She does solo runs for supplies for it without even questioning it. After Chuck's done though, she just falls asleep on the porch, waiting to be allowed in."

"If she's not careful, I might have her in here to occupy another bed."

"Manic says that he drops a blanket on her every night once the moon shows up, so I don't think she'll have too much trouble. She's adaptable and usually enjoys sleeping in the sewer tunnels, but… you're right. She can't stay depressed like this forever, can she?"

"I hate to admit it, but I think that it all depends on how well Snively… I mean, Collin… recovers."

"Yes… I think I'll let him keep his old title."

"What title, Jules?"

" _Sir Collin of the Four Kingdoms_ of course… one of our secret knights…"

***Freedom Fighters***

Snively felt a damp cloth on his forehead when light started to reach his face. He struggled to open his eyes, as his eyelids felt weighted down. He was surprised to find himself breathing, especially since the last thing he could remember was his uncle beating the living daylights out of him. He shuddered as he felt fresh air enter his lungs instead of the usual smog from Robotropolis. His eyes snap open in shock as he gasped. He then winced.

"Easy, easy, Sir Collin." Snively opened his eyes again weakly and managed to turn his head to his right a little. His eyes widened in fear as he saw the face of someone whom he hadn't seen in over two decades. "You had everyone pretty worried there, Collin."

"King Jules?" Snively managed to croak with his dry throat.

"Just Jules will do fine, Collin." The green hedgehog smiled kindly to the young human. Though they had known each other from before the Great War had started, Collin "Snively" Eggman was truthfully only thirty-six, and his daughter, Ace Lunar Dreamstar Eggman was only eighteen. "You gave everyone quite a scare there. My boy Sonic was saying how he couldn't tell what was truth anymore apparently, hehe. How are you feeling?"

"I'm… fine…" The human lied, feeling strange for having someone worry about him other than Ace, and even that felt strange to him. Jules handed Snively a cup of water, to which the younger man graciously drank from. "Thank you." He still sounded weak, but it was an improvement.

"Not a problem. Sonic just had a hard time believing that you had been asked to be a double agent for us. I will admit, there were times where I was worried about you starting to actually be a traitor, rather than just acting."

"I'll admit… sire… that… there were moments in which… I would forget myself…" He seemed to be struggling for air. Jules nodded and placed an oxygen mask on the human, though it was a little hard with his large nose.

"I bet. Rest easy, my young friend. You're safe now."

"Not… not until Robotnik's… gone… I have to… stop him…" Snively fell back into a deep sleep, having used all his energy to keep awake and talk to one of his four kings. Jules nodded and once more found himself admiring the younger soldier. He didn't like leaving missions unfinished.

***Freedom Fighters***

King Jules left the health hut with a small smile on his face. He noticed that Ace was done with her chores already and was waiting for some news of her father. "How is he?" She asked, as she always did when someone came out. It had been a month now since she had brought her father in from Robotropolis.

"He woke up for a few minutes today. He's confused. It's understandable. He still thinks he's a failure."

"He's not the failure, I am… I should have gotten him out sooner. I should have planned ahead more. I should have seen this coming… it's my fault he's hurt and half the planet hates him… all because I didn't pull him out when I should've."

Jules sat next to the young girl fox and sighed. "I can see the family traits. You're stubborn, just like the rest of your family… but just like Collin, you're blaming yourself for all of life's problems. You geniuses always seem to think that everything that goes wrong can be blamed on something or someone. You and Collin just tend to blame yourselves rather than anyone else."

"Yeah, well… we'd be pretty lousy people if we blamed innocent people." Ace grimaced. "Besides… it's our family that's causing such grief… it's just how we are."

"So I've noticed…" Jules then looked around at the bustling village that was going through its everyday routine. "I'll talk to the doc… maybe he'll let you see him now…"

"Thank you, your majesty…"

"Heh, you and your father need to start remembering, I'm just plain old Jules here, hehe."

"You and Sally…" Ace smirked. Princess Sally also insisted on not being called royalty, as they were in the forest, and as Sally liked to put it, "The only royalty here is Mother Nature."

"And you and Collin." Jules chuckled. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No… I wanted to know if he was awake… is he going to be okay?"

"Heh, he'll be fine. I'll go get you some food and then find the doc. He'll be able to check on your dad and tell us if you can check up on him yourself. You still worry too much."

"No, I worry exactly the right amount. You can never worry too much when Robotnik's out there."

"Sure kid, sure…" He had a sad smile on as he realized that Ace had never actually had a childhood like some of the others. 'Just remember you're still a little girl… just like my Sonia and just like Sally…'

***Freedom Fighters***

"SNIVELY!" Robotnik yelled, forgetting once more that he had practically killed his nephew… and that the small man had been rescued for some reason. "Oh… right…" He grumbled as he went about to personally try to program everything so that the machines would run smoother and order the swat bots. It amazed him how much he actually needed the short human who had actually been betraying him for who knows how long. "He was only in charge of making sure all the bots were working really… so why am I having such a hard time running this place without him taking care of the droids and robotosized citizens?"

***Freedom Fighters***

Snively took in another breath as he struggled to open his eyes again. This time it was night, and he saw something blue, black, and blonde near him. He managed to open his eyes enough to look at the sleeping figure of his daughter. Ace was sleeping with her head on the bed next to her father. Collin smiled kindly at his daughter and moved some of her blonde hair away from her face. She was too tired to notice. Snively then simply rested his hand on her head and stroked her head until he fell back asleep. 'Such a good girl…'

Ace woke up a few hours later, once the sun had risen, and went about her usual chores. Sir Charles, or rather Uncle Chuck as everyone but Jules called him, had asked her to pick up some of the final pieces for the void portal that day. They'd work on the Derobotosizing machine once they figured out how to reverse engineer it. Ace patted her father's hand as she set it back on his chest. "I'll be back soon, daddy. I promise."

Ace made her way outside and walked over to Uncle Chuck's hut as she did every morning since returning with her father. Chuck looked over his metallic shoulder, as he had been robotosized during the early years of Robotnik's takeover of the Acorn kingdom. He had recently regained his free will thanks to his nephew, Sonic's help. "Ah, Ace, it must be morning." Due to his robotosized state, he didn't need to sleep, but he did need to recharge every few weeks.

"Yep. What's today's item?"

"We need a piece that looks like this." He activated a holographic diagram that showed a small piece that looked quite complicated. "It's a…"

"Don't tell me, hehe, you should know by now that I can never remember the names of these things anyway. I know where one is though. I'll be back in time for lunch."

"Now don't get careless, Ace." Chuck chuckled. "We don't want you in the hospital too."

"Trust me, I'll be fine." She smirked as she grabbed the holo-cube that had the image and ran outside. She then called out for her hoverboard and jumped onto it. She flew off just as Sally came out of her hut.

"She off?"

"Yes, Princess Sally. She's off. She seems to be in a better mood though. I sent her off after a flux capacitor. After we get that piece, we'll be able to bring back your father."

"Thank you, Sir Charles. It's been too long… I really miss him."

"Heh, I know. You aren't the only one to be missing their parents though, just remember that."

"Of course…" Sally nodded. She knew she wasn't alone in that thought. Antione's father was robotosized and a general of one of Robotnik's armies. Tails didn't know his father, but from what Vixen had said, he was in hiding as well as Sonic's mother. Shadow's father, if what Ace had said was true, had been trapped somewhere. There were many other similar cases to all of these.

"Don't worry, Princess Sally. I have a feeling that having both Ace and Collin on our side, things will turn around for us… after of course, we release your father." Chuck smirked.

"Of course, Sir Charles, of course."

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace grinned as she picked out the piece from her father's old lab. "I knew I recognized that piece. Now…" She turned her head to her secret project that she had kept hidden from even her father. She unloaded a few pieces and placed them accordingly on the contraption. "Not bad, but hopefully it's good enough... I just hope I got the design right. I'm not too good at this stuff yet." She chuckled. "I'll work on you more next time…" She snuck out of the caved in laboratory and made her way back through the sewers and to the forest.

She smiled as she walked past the tree with the red sparkles hidden in its leaves. "Hey again, Cosmo. I don't know if your remember him or even care, but Collin's going to be fine. I'll make sure of it. Gotta go. Dr. Hedgehog wants this flux capacitor so we can bring back King Max Acorn. Afterwards, we're gonna work on the derobotisizer. Hopefully, I'll have found some way to return you to your normal state by the end of that. Well, see ya, Cosmo."

Ace could have sworn she heard a soft response of "Bye Ace, take care…" in the wind. She smirked. It was finally the beginning of the end of Dr. Julian Robotnik.

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace couldn't help but smile as all of Knothole, save for her father, was gathered to see if Sir Charles had really been able to bring King Max and Ixis Naugus back from the crystal dimension. It had been years since they had been able to walk out of that world without fear of crystallization. Sally just hoped that this time her father would be able to stay. Ace grinned as the device was activated. Sonic had of course volunteered to go in and look for the king and sorcerer, but Ace and Nicole had assured him that he wouldn't need to. Ace had looked over the plans a few times as her father had made the copy to slip back to his uncle's desk. She was always trying to learn something, even though she wasn't able to understand a lot about robotics.

"You know I was just about to set up dinner, right?" Ace looked up to find Ixis Naugus walking through the portal with King Max right behind him. He looked straight at Ace and frowned. "Oh great, little Miss Know-it-all is here. How nice." He walked over to Ace as the king reunited with his daughter. "You know how much trouble happens every time that you show up?"

"Yes. I also know how much trouble happens when you show up, so I say we're even." The arctic fox said as she gave the strange creature a deadpan gaze equal to his own.

The sorcerer stared at her for a few more moments before bursting into laughter. "You have guts, Ace. I'll give you that. I take it you weakened him already?" Ace nodded slowly.

"I retrieved my father." She said simply enough as she shrugged.

"Ah, that would do it. I must return to my own work… but not before I make Robotnik a little more miserable, hehe. You will probably know where to find me." He then turned to King Max and gave an evil looking smirk. "I'm sure that we won't meet again, your majesty… at least not unless this young lady thinks I'm needed." He then turned back to Ace. "Keep studying, and maybe you'll be my apprentice." Naugus then disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?" Sonic asked as once more, Ace seemed to shatter everything he knew about the world.

Ace, Manic, and Vixen just laughed. "Oh man, bro, you haven't guessed?" Manic kept laughing. "Ace has some pretty amazing magic of her own."

"Hahaha, show them, Ace." Vixen had to sit down because of how funny everyone's reaction was.

Ace then grimaced and held out a hand. "Right. I know just the spell too!" She took a deep breath and then closed her eyes. "Magic of the ages, guide me. Find me a friend, find me a royal." She smiled kindly to King Jules, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic, who had now stopped laughing as he realized what she was doing. "Queen Aleena of the rings, queen of speed and magic, allow me a moment of your time. Your family wishes an audience with you."

Vixen took this as a que to take everyone who wasn't part of the hedgehog family out of the room. Sally and the others decided to take King Max on a tour of Knothole and then Doctor Quack decided that he needed to give him a check up to be sure he wouldn't crystalize again.

A small orb had formed in Ace's hand before she tossed it up in the air. It was now a full illusion of the Queen, Aleena. "Hello everyone." Aleena smiled kindly. Ace just grinned as she left the hedgehogs to talk while she went to check on her own family; more accurately, her father.

***Freedom Fighters***

Snively felt another cloth on his forehead. This one was soaking wet, as though the person forgot to wring it. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled weakly at the only person who thought it was best to have a soaking wet cloth on her patients' foreheads. Ace Lunar Dreamstar was dabbing away at some wounds, cleaning them up once more before replacing the bandages. She was so busy with changing his bandages that he was sure his daughter didn't notice he was awake yet. He tried to lift his hand to remove the cloth.

"Don't try it, you're still weak, dad."

"I guess you really think of me that way?" He asked weakly. His hand fell back to his chest limply.

"What do you mean?" She picked up the cloth and wrung it out so it was still damp but not as heavy.

"You've started calling me 'dad'. You never did that before."

"Didn't think you'd want me to, ta be honest. You told me that I shouldn't go around telling people my last name was Eggman, even though by law of creation it is."

"Heh… you would follow that law."

"Yeah, I would. So sorry if you don't like the idea of it, but you are my father, so I'm going to act accordingly."

Collin gave a weak smile. "Couldn't be happier… save for the moment when Robotnik's gone."

Ace returned the smile. "Hehe, we're almost there. King Max is back, I set up a communication for the Hedgehog family, King Amadeus Prower of Gears is going to meet me next month at a meeting place, and after that all that's left is to free King Shade from the shadow realm and tell Queen Aleena to get over here."

"You make it sound so simple, Ace…"

"Yeah… it always annoys people when it turns out harder than I make it sound. Hehe." Ace grinned deviously.


	5. Episode 5

It had only been a month since King Max's return, and already Ace noticed differences, some good, some bad. Max was already arguing with Jules on what to do and it was aggravating everyone, especially Sonic, Sally, and Ace. Ace knew what they were arguing about and had asked for permission to move her father to her small tree house as soon as he was well enough. Sally and Sonic had agreed without hesitation considering how Max was acting as if it was Collin's fault that his kingdom had been captured.

Ace snuck her father out in the middle of the night with Sally and Sonic's help, as well as a little help from Manic. She was finally starting to gain Sonic's trust and even Collin was starting to gain some trust from the others. Every time he was taken outside in his wheelchair he was always helping with the derobotisizer. If someone questioned him or tried to pick a fight with him, Ace would be in the room helping like she was his assistant. True, she never intervened, as her father knew how to avoid fights by simply answering the questions without hesitation and then asking for a tool he needed or for something to be adjusted. They were close though. They were so close to finishing the derobotisizer that Ace was practically leaping for joy. They were so close to reclaiming their planet.

Ace had just dropped her father off Sir Charles' workshop for the day when she looked at her watch and her eyes widened. "Shrapnel! I'm almost late!" She jumped onto her hoverboard and raced over to where Manic, Vixen, and Tails were all waiting for her on their own boards. "Sorry about that guys, just got excited."

"No prob, Ace. So, what's the surprise?" She had insisted to keep it a secret what the four of them were going to do today. "Sally and Sonic gave us permission to leave and dad was pretty happy to have us out of the way…" Manic was excited for an excuse to leave the little country side town. He was raised as a city boy after all.

"Let me guess, another fight with King Max?"

"Yep. He even got Aunt Sally in on this fight too, but she's still on your side, Ace. He keeps blaming Snively for everything, but from what you, Jules, and Sally say, isn't it a bit harsh to expect all of that from an eighteen year old?" Tails asked, as he himself was now twenty. He still had some issues with all the responsibility given to him. He also still tended to call Sally his aunt every once in a while due to old sentimentalities.

"I think so, but then again, I'm eighteen, so what do I know, right?" She smirked. "Think you three can keep up?"

"HA!" Tails laughed. "I've been flying after Sonic with my two tails for years. This hoverboard's gonna be a step up."

Ace chuckled. "On our way back we can pick up someone else too… that is if you don't mind me messing around with my magic."

"Is it someone we know?" Vixen asked suspiciously.

Ace gave a grimace this time. "Not someone **_we_** know… someone Tails knows…"

"WHO?" The three chorused.

"… Cosmo Seed… the last full blooded Seedarian…"

***Freedom Fighters***

Walking along the sewers, the two girl foxes and the green hedgehog felt at home. Tails though was too busy thinking about the chance that Ace had offered up. A chance to see Cosmo again, to show her more of his world… to possibly have a relationship with her… it was daunting to think about because he was sure that she had sacrificed herself to save him and their friends. All that had been found of her was a set of seeds he had planted. Ace had assured him that those seeds were what had grown into a tree keeping Cosmo's soul safe, and that she knew how to safely remove Cosmo from the tree without actually damaging the tree. It was an amazing theory to be sure… but if Ace was right… it would be a miracle.

"Hey, Tails!" Tails looked up, his train of thought changed as he realized they were surrounded by sewer swat bots. "We got a problem." Vixen muttered.

Ace just grinned. "Plug your ears, I'm gonna sing!" Manic's eyes widened and both he and Vixen closed their ears. Tails just looked around questioningly and followed suit. Ace then let out a loud blast of noise. Tails pressed his tails to his ears as he realized what was going on. Ace was somehow singing at a high pitched voice that was messing with the circuits of the robots. She kept at it for a minute until the robots fell apart. "Ouch." She said in her normal voice. She chuckled as she rubbed her throat.

"You okay, Ace?" Manic asked as he and the other foxes lowered their hands and tails. "It's been a while since you did that, hasn't it?"

Ace grimaced. "Yeah… it has."

Tail's eyes were wide open with shock. "What was that?"

Ace glanced at him and was about to answer when an older version of Tails voice responded. "That was an 'Ace in the hole'. A set of sonic sounds pulled off at a high pitch frequency that can disrupt almost any robotic system in the area, save for something I built of course." Tails, Vixen, and Manic looked in surprise to find an older yellow and orange fox. He had one tail and bright blue eyes. He also, much like Tails, wore a set of dirty brown goggles on his head. "Her actual singing is way better though."

"You flatter me… but I bet Tails here has something on him that still works. Tails?" Ace smirked. Tails just nodded nervously and started looking into his belt pockets. He pulled out a communicator that he had made to connect with Nicole back at Knothole so he could talk to "Aunt" Sally when he was a kid.

"This is still working." He smirked as he saw he had signal still.

"Well I'll be… another inventor."

"Don't be so surprised, Amadeus." The oldest fox winced at his name while Ace smirked. "He's just a chip off the old block."

"You know I don't like that name, Ace. Please, it's just Gyro Gears." Vixen's eyes widened as she recognized the name. She whispered something to Tails who's eyes were wide again with shock.

"Then how about your family learn to give everyone good names and stop hating them?"

"One doesn't know what names a child will like or hate, and besides; tradition states the mother names the children."

Ace just rolled her eyes. "Gyro, please… Ugh… lets go before Scratch and Grounder find out and send in more bots."

"Right." The others agreed. Vixen stayed close to Manic at this point while Tails started chuckling. "What's so funny, li'l bro?" Vixen asked curious as to why danger seemed to make her brother laugh. 'Maybe he hung out with Sonic too much.'

"Scratch and Grounder are two of the stupidest bots Robotnik ever made. Haha, Sonic and I have dealt with them hundreds of times if not thousands when we were kids!"

Ace smirked. "I know."

***Freedom Fighters***

Gyro led them through a secret underground tunnel that was hidden in the sewers by some simple weeds and sewer algae. The tunnel then led down to an underground city. "Welcome to Geartropolis, though some people also call it Sewer Town."

"Wow." Tails and Vixen looked around at all the gadgets and gears moving in perfect harmony with the people that were living there. It was a balance of steampunk styled technology and nature that had been moved below ground.

"Yeah, it is impressive, isn't it. So, Ace, what brings you and your friends to my kingdom."

"I told ya last time that I'd bring your kids here so I did. I just happened to bring your daughter's boyfriend too." Ace grinned as Manic and Vixen blushed. Tails was too excited to hear what she had just said. He was starting to fly up high with his tails, trying to get a better look at the city.

"Oh boy! Chilidogs!" The others looked up in amusement as he raced off towards a chilidog shack.

"Oh great, another Sonic." Manic chuckled as they ran off to follow the flying fox. They were surprised when he was already paying the dog at the stand for a dozen chilidogs with the works. "Can he eat all of that?"

Ace nodded slowly. "He can."

***Freedom Fighters***

After explaining the situation over in Knothole to King Amadeus, the old fox laughed. "Hah, of course Max is upset. He thought for sure that he could change Julian and that he'd be able to do it with a snap of his fingers really. Max never had a real life outside of the castle. As for Collin, well if Max is still being a bitter jerk after this whole thing blows over, I wouldn't mind taking him onto my staff for a while, hehe. Boy's a genius in his own way too." Then he looked at his children, Veronica "Vixen" Prower and Miles "Tails" Prower, both fully-grown adults. "You kids did okay on your own. I'm proud of you, if that means anything."

Tails smiled while blushing. He was happy to find that he had a family, and that they were proud of him. True, he still considered Knothole his family, especially his big brother, Sonic, but still. Having his real family be happy with him was also a great feeling.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going." Tails exclaimed in a Sonic like matter as he started twirling his tails again. "Sonic and the others are waiting for us!"

Manic looked at him funny. "Okay, seriously, how is it that you and Sonic can still move after eating all those chilidogs?" Everyone started laughing except for Manic. "No, seriously; how can you even move?"

***Freedom Fighters***

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently as morning came up. He wanted to know where that crazy fox had taken his brothers! He couldn't stand it anymore. He started off running through the forest until he heard Ace's voice.

"… **_and jewel of the cosmos, come together and release the soul trapped in the tree."_** It seemed that she had been doing a spell. Sonic made his way towards the voice in time to see a bright green light come from a tree and then see the Seedarian girl known as Cosmo fall out of the tree and into Tail's hands.

"Cosmo?" The group looked over to Sonic. Tails was blushing as he nodded. Sonic then looked over to Ace. "How'd ya do that?"

"I just used my powers to bring her spirit out of the tree and give her back her original form. It's a little complicated, but once Cosmo wakes up, she'll be fine. I just have to figure out what I'm going to tell dad about this magic."

"You mean he doesn't know you can do magic yet?"

Ace blushed this time. "Sorta… also, he actually… well… it's complicated… let's just say he knew Cosmo's mother and leave it at that for now. If Cosmo sees him, recognizes him after all these years, and doesn't hate him, then I'll talk."

***Freedom Fighters***

Snively was now able to walk around the village now, though he still tended to just go over to Sir Charles place and then back to Ace's treehouse. The people were getting used to him and were starting to get friendly towards him, all save for King Max, but Sally and Jules had kept him busy with their arguments. He frowned slightly as he stopped in the middle of his route to Sir Charles workshop. He had spotted Ace and the others, but he was more confused about the Seedarian girl with them. He recognized who she was, but he was sure that she was supposed to be older than him. He sighed. 'Right, space travel shortens the age because she was traveling at light speed. Let's hope she doesn't recognize me…'

"Hey, dad." Ace smiled as she walked up to him, happy to see him out of his hover chair again.

"Hello, Ace. Might I ask where you found a Seedarian on Mobius?"

Ace grinned. "Well… there was this tree… this rare tree…" She started as though she was about to start singing an annoying camp song.

Collin put up his hand in a stopping motion. "I don't want the song, Ace."

Ace chuckled. "You gonna talk to her?"

"Not unless I have to. She's younger than me now. I have to play the eldest… it's what my parents would expect of me." Collin shook his head as he lowered his hand.

"You have way too many ideas of what's expected of you, dad."

"This coming from the eighteen year old fox who thinks she can stop a war by herself?"

"Not by myself, silly. With the royals help." Ace smiled as she walked off to meet with Bunny and Antione for guard duty.

Collin just shook his head and smiled. "Truly a brilliant little girl… though a touch too optimistic for this time period…"

***Freedom Fighters***

Sally was overjoyed to finally meet with the Seedarian known as Cosmo, and Cosmo was overjoyed to be back among friends. It only took a few days to build a hut for Cosmo, but in the meantime she had stayed with her friend Cream and Cream's mother, Vanilla. Many of Sonic's friends from his adventures had moved into Knothole and the group just kept getting stronger. Knuckles was still living on the floating island, but everyone knew he was only a holler away. Rouge was stealing power crystals from Robotnik and helping Dr. Eggman with them, though she wouldn't say what they were used for. Dr. Eggman, though really a neutral party, was simply building something that Sonic was sure would cause trouble. Shadow was dating Amy now and they were sharing a hut for the moment. Sonia's fiancé Bartleby was sharing a hut with Antione, as the two were only able to be roommates for each other because of their attitudes. Vixen was living with Sonia, Sally, and Bunny. Manic was bunking with Sonic and Tails. Ace didn't mind her view of the village from her tree hut that she lived in with her father. King Max was living in his own hut while King Jules and King Gyro were laughing it up like they were kids again while sharing a hut with Sir Charles. Charles didn't mind that they stayed up most nights. He felt it was a familiar thing that was being revisited from their own past adventures, after all, his nephew Sonic wasn't the only one with adventure in his heart and the guts to be a hero. Even some robots that Sonic had assured the group were alright were staying in Knothole; Julien Robotnik Jr. and his now wife, Breezy. Junior had fixed himself up so that he looked like a more muscular version of his father, without the mustache and with a skinnier, smaller form so that he was the size of your average Mobian. He was only slightly taller than his cousin, Collin.

One morning while Collin was on his way over to Sir Charles with Ace to work on the derobotisizer, Cosmo spotted him. She frowned slightly and asked Cream who he was. "Oh that's Dr. Collin. We used to think he was really mean, but now we know he's actually really nice. He's Ace's daddy and Jr.'s cousin."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He's helping with the derobotisizer right now. He doesn't like his uncle though."

"His uncle?"

"Yes, his uncle is the big meanie, Doctor Robotnik." Cream held her Chao closer, Cheese. "He's trying to robotosize everyone."

"Uh-huh… I think I need to have a talk with this… Collin."

***Freedom Fighters***

Cosmo made her way over to the scientist's hut. Max, Jules, and Gyro were all arguing in a corner that Chuck had set aside for them while he worked. Chuck was busy with working on the interior of the Robotosizer while Collin worked on the outside of it. Ace was with Sonic, Manic, and Tails on a run for parts and supplies.

Cosmo frowned at the back of the bald midget human. **_"I didn't expect to see you again either, big sister."_** Cosmo's eyes widened in shock. She had just heard the old language of the Seedarians. **_"I still practiced just like you and mother said I should. Julian always got pissed off when I started speaking like this. He couldn't understand it at all."_** Collin turned around and chuckled lightly. "Good morning, Cosmo." His voice was back to English.

"G… good morning… Collin… what happened to you?" He was short, bald, and had a long nose that had obviously been pulled too often.

"I got out lucky that's all." He grimaced. He then turned his head back to his work. "If you don't mind handing me my screwdriver from your left, I'd be quite grateful, Cosmo."

"Oh! Of course, Collin." She handed him the screwdriver. **_"Why didn't you tell me you were here? How come father doesn't remember us?"_**

 ** _"I erased his memories of us… or at least put a block on them as Ace would say. He shouldn't remember us unless he sees us. Even then, it's a pretty big debate on whether or not he'd remember us… I didn't want him to be hurt."_** Collin kept his voice in a hushed tone, finding his heart hurting from dealing with all of these emotions that he had kept down. The loss of his mother, the sudden return of his sister, forcing his father to forget about him, his uncle abusing him, his daughter saving him and allowing him to try and make peace with his past. It was all hard on him, though he was trying to act tough. **_"Sometimes it's best to forget things… how did you recognize me?"_**

 ** _"I was talking to Cream. She called you 'Doctor Collin'."_**

 ** _"Ah, yes. I did manage to get my medical degree before everything hit the fan now that I think about it. I sometimes forget about the fact that I'm now a Doctor Eggman as well."_** He let out a soft chuckle. Then he frowned at one of the dials. "Sir Charles, a little adjustment please. It needs more pressure."

"Got it!" Sir Charles tweaked a nob and the dial then moved to a satisfactory position. "How's that?"

"Perfect."

"Collin…" Cosmo couldn't help but smile softly. Her little brother had grown up with great difficulty, but he had turned out alright.

"What is it, Cosmo?" His voice was kind and filled with concern.

"Have you even seen dad lately?" Her voice was so quiet that only Collin could hear it.

"No… I don't want him to worry about me. He's been through a lot too. I think we should let the old man be and let him pull his crazy stunts… it keeps him occupied and trains Sonic and his friends…"

"Alright…"

***Freedom Fighters***

In a large lab at the edge of a beach, three robots were worrying. Decoe was concerned about how quiet the lab was. Bocoe was concerned with how they hadn't even been ordered to get any robots ready for a random fight with Sonic. Bocoom was just startled by the fact that he couldn't find his boss and creator anywhere. "WHAAAAA! WHERE IS DOCTOR EGGMAN?" His whining was beginning to annoy the two eldest creations, as well as two of the newer creations of the doctor; Cu-bot and Ro-bot.

"I'm sure he's just busy with something, you know how the doctor gets when he has something on his mind." Ro-bot, one of the smarter bots that the doctor had created, tried to console the smaller bot from whining.

"You betcha partner!" Cu-bot tended to have his voice chip damage easily, much to the annoyance of his counterpart, Ro-bot.

Ro-bot turned his head towards the cubed robot and groaned. "You broke your voice chip again, didn't you?"

"Yes sir-ree!"

"I'll fix him." Decoe grabbed his tool kit and started adjusting things in Cu-bot's head. He and Bocoe had been repairing other robots since they had been created. "One of these days we'll make it so that you can't break this thing again." The yellow robot muttered. "I'm not programmed for this…" Decoe and Bocoe had originally been programmed to be nanny bots, which hadn't been so bad originally, but after the kids had grown up and disappeared, they had been reprogrammed for other uses.

"That would be something." Bocoe agreed. The silver grey robot grabbed Bocoom by the wrist and started leading him away from the bigger bots. "Come on, Bocoom. The Doctor is always locked up in the library on this day of the year. You should know this by now."

***Freedom Fighters***

Dr. Ivo Eggman was looking at a scrapbook that his genius son had forgotten when he left. He sighed as he looked at the photo of his wedding day. It had been the happiest day of his life. It had been a small wedding, but it was pleasant nonetheless. He then turned the page to see the day his boy, Collin Seedara Eggman, had been born. He had been so proud of the little boy. The next page showed him, and his Seedarian wife, introducing the young boy to his older half-sister, Cosmo. Collin had admired his sister from the very beginning. She was always kind and caring to all those around her.

It had crushed the boy to find out that he had to lose his mother and sister because of his uncle. He had been left behind because of the human half of his DNA causing him to need oxygen more than his sister and mother. He had only been five when they left, but his mind was already that of a genius, and he already understood why it was happening. What he didn't understand was why his uncle was ruining everyone's life.

Later on, when Collin was still a teenager, he had been recruited to be a double agent by King Max. The other royals, save for King Shade, were against it, but helped the young man as best as they could. Collin soon earned the title of the Secret Knight of the four kingdoms, which had made his father extremely proud. Unfortunately, he knew that his father was worried for him and had attempted to wipe Ivo's memory of him, his mother, and his sister. Ivo had barely figured it out in time to put in some reflective contacts. True, he remembered everything still, but he didn't want to hurt his son any more than the boy already was. He knew that Collin was doing a brave thing and would probably get hurt, but if he stopped him from what he was doing, then there was even less chance of everything working out in the end.

That had been twenty years ago, when he had last seen his son. Dr. Ivo Eggman sighed and started tinkering with one of his little projects that his son had designed. "Maybe one day I'll be as brave as Collin… I just hope he's okay…"

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace, Sonic, Manic, and Tails came back with news of success and some key items that Rotor and the other scientists needed. Ace smirked as she noticed Cosmo was talking to her father without any anger. Though she could understand Seedarian, she chose not to let her father know this. She found it useful when he was trying to hide things from her. Tails was confused by the language they were speaking, as well as the fact that his girlfriend was talking to the small human.

"Nice to see you two getting along, dad." Ace smirked.

Cosmo turned around blushing in confusion. Collin just smirked. "You know I'm trying to get along with everyone. Ms. Cosmo here was teaching me about Seedarian language. I was curious about her culture." Tails felt a pang of jealousy. Cosmo didn't even tell him that there was another language for Seedarians.

Thankfully, Ace noticed it. "Dad, don't lie to us." She frowned. "I did my homework, remember?" Collin winced. Tails looked at her confused. Ace then grinned. "For Tails sake, one of you two had better explain before I do. I'm already in trouble for revealing other parts of family…" She then smirked softly as she then had a thought come to her mind. 'Maybe more family help is what we need… hmmm…' She then turned back to her father and aunt. "I'm going to go out for a bit. I've got my communicator on me. Did you make a new one?"

Collin grimaced. "Yes, I made a new one." He showed her the small watch band that was similar to her own. "Call me if something happens."

"Same to you, dad. I don't want you back in the hospital." Collin grimaced as Cosmo started asking as to why her baby brother had been in a hospital.

***Freedom Fighters***

Sonic had decided to join Ace on her private mission. Though he was starting to trust her, he didn't think she needed to take chances all the time. "You're gonna regret coming with me, but you can't say I didn't give fair warning."

Sonic started regretting it only when he realized where she was going. She was going to see Doctor Ivo Eggman, the second most annoying human on the planet. True, he was less dangerous than Robotnik, but that didn't mean much. "What are we doing out here?"

"Checking on the last member of my family. I was going to go in without being noticed, but that's impossible with you."

"How so?"

"The defenses around here are specifically designed for training Mobians to be better, and even more specifically **_you_** , Sonic Hedgehog."

"What do you mean? Eggman's trying to take over the world too!"

"Is he? Do you really think he's been trying his hardest to stop you from destroying his toys? I looked at the pictures and files on those fights. He's never taken you seriously, he's only been training you so that you'd be stronger and smarter."

"Say what?"

"It's truth. We'll talk to him and you can ask if I'm right or not, hehe." Ace was about to step past the front gates when Sonic stopped her. "What?"

"Did your homework, huh? If that was true, then don't you realize that there are traps here?"

Ace grinned. "Of course, but I also know that the traps are made to test your speed. They'll ignore us if we walk on through." She removed his hand from her shoulder and started walking. Sonic just shook his head, but decided to follow at her speed, though it was annoying to him. "Told ya." She laughed as they reached the entrance of the base.

"I still don't get how you know all of this."

"I know things because I know where to go for the information." Ace knocked on the door three times.

Sonic started tapping his foot. He was having a hard time believing that Dr. Eggman wasn't as bad as he seemed. Sonic took a deep breath and remembered that he had thought the same thing about Collin, or Snively as he still called him, and now knew better. 'I'll give him the benefit of the doubt… only because Ace is Manic's best friend…'

It took a few minutes before Decoe was able to open the door. "Sonic? What are you doing here? Who's this? Look, Doctor Eggman's not up to anything today, so please, just go. We don't want any trouble."

"Trust me, if it was just me, I'd be all for it, but my pal, Ace, here says she needs ta see the doc." Sonic shrugged.

"Please?" Ace asked in a voice that was similar to Cream's. It threw Decoe off.

"Well… I'll ask if he's got a minute… who should I say is coming to talk to him?"

"Tell him that I know Dr. Collin Seedara Eggman. That should do it."

"Collin?" Decoe was shocked. He and Bocoe knew of Collin but the other robots were too new to know. "That's impossible!"

Ace rolled her eyes. "Fine, just tell him that Ace Lunar Dreamstar E. wants to talk to him."

"Um… right…?" Decoe left the two animals standing at the doorway as he ran to tell his creator what he had just learned.

"What was that all about? I didn't know Snively's last name was Eggman… or that he was a doctor… and what's with the E. at the end of your name now…?"

"Yeah, well there's a lot about my family that you don't know…"

"Like what?"

"You're gonna hate it."

"Tell me anyway."

Ace sighed. "Cosmo is dad's half -sister… and Dr. Robotnik is only Dr. Eggman's half-brother. OH, and Dr. Eggman is Collin's father, and Cosmo's step-father." She looked up to find Sonic's right eye twitching in shock. Ace had a saddened gaze and looked downcast towards her right. "Now that you know… you probably…"

"…Should apologize."

"What?" Ace looked up at the blue hedgehog in shock. She hadn't expected that answer.

"I should apologize." Sonic took a deep breath and sighed. "I misjudged you guys. You've been helping us fight your own family… your dad's taken beatings from his uncle because he's been purposely messing up his plans… Eggman's been acting up as a way to train us if you're telling the truth… Cosmo nearly got killed trying to save the universe… I don't know what I'd do if my family had as many troubles as you do." He then grinned like usual. "Mine's just full of crazy hedgehogs that drive yours nuts."

"That's putting it mildly, Sonic." The two blue animals looked up at the doorway as Dr. Ivo Eggman stooped down on his stick thin legs to look at them. "And you are Ace, I presume?" Ace's eyes widened as she nodded slowly. She hadn't yet had the pleasure of actually talking to her grandfather. She had only been able to sneak into the vents to get information and check up on him. "Well at least that explains the blue and blonde fur I found in my ventilation system. Very clever by the way, using the vents as an entry point. Sonic usually just goes in for the front approach. Noisy, loud, damaging, and certainly not good for stealth missions, but it's effective to try and save a friend. I had Cream over last time I believe. Really hated scaring the poor girl. I offered her some snacks though to calm her down. Now that I think about it, I do believe I actually explained what I was doing that time. She calmed down quite a bit, but still agreed to play her part when you came to rescue her." Ivo then stood up and chuckled lightly. "How is she, anyway?"

"She's fine, doc." Sonic smirked. Eggman had only showed interest in hurting Sonic to be truthful, so it was always understandable that he would ask about Cream and Cheese.

"That's good. I was actually starting to get worried when none of you were in your usual places, save for Knuckles and Rouge, and I don't want to deal with the Master Emerald if I don't need to."

"Yeah, everyone's moved to Knothole. It's getting to dangerous out here for us, what with Swat Bots and everything trying to robotosize and kill us."

"Yeah, Julian's insanity comes from our mother. I think you've met Momma Robotnik, Sonic?"

"Yeah, Tails and I ran into her a few times." Sonic mumbled as Ivo led them through the Egg base.

"Annoying, isn't she?"

"Haven't seen her in a while, actually."

"Yeah, I sorta hid her away since Julian didn't do so good at keeping her away from everyone. She's the one thing we all agree needs to be locked up."

"So… where'd ya send her?"

"Where else? I sent her to some far off star. By the time she either gets back or gets there, one of us will be dead, her or me. Personally, I hope it's her."

Ace looked up at her grandfather with a slight grimace. "Okay, maybe you are slightly evil."

"Don't you forget it, kid." Dr. Eggman grinned slightly. Sonic just chuckled. "So, what are you kids doing here? I haven't planned on kidnapping anyone or building anything destructive until next month. It takes a while to get the parts what with my brother robotosizing everyone."

"I bet. But I know you do have the parts to help us out." Ace grinned.

Eggman looked down at the child and looked her square in the eyes. He was looking for something in them and found it. "Ace was it? Collin can do a lot with anything in this base. What exactly do you kids need with it?" He had found Collin's spark of courage and hope. She was definitely tied to his boy somehow.

Sonic was interested in what Ace had planned. "I need parts to finish the De-Robotosizer, and you're the leading robotics expert other than Julian, Collin, and Charles. You also have the parts that we wouldn't get anywhere else." Ace placed a hand on her hip and smirked.

Sonic smiled as he got the idea. "So, you in? Or are your kids and granddaughter going to be the only ones from your family to save the day?"

Ivo looked from one blue mammal to the next. Then his gaze landed once more on Ace. "I take it, you're the granddaughter he's talking about?"

Ace grinned. "Yeah, well, I'm what happens when dad's lab blows up and almost kills him."

"Hmph, and has the lab blown up on him since you were created?"

"I don't think so, unless he's been hiding it from me."

"Good. Come on, I'll take you to where I keep my spare parts and you kids can identify what you need."

"Thanks grandpa." Ace smiled as she turned into her childish form and skipped ahead of the others.

Ivo blinked. "Is she always like that?"

"From what I've seen? Yes." Sonic groaned as he slapped himself in the head.

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace smiled as she walked through the forest with a box full of parts, scrap, and tools in her hands. Sonic also had one, as did the two robots that were with them. Decoe and Bocoe had been volunteered to help Ace get what she needed for Knothole. Sonic was still trying to figure out what about Ace could have made Eggman give her all the materials she asked for. She even grinned when she came into sight of an annoyed Collin and Sally who were tapping their feet while waiting for the two blue mammals.

"Do I want to know where you got all of this? Or for that matter why those two are here?" Collin asked as he took one of the boxes from Decoe, who had been carrying two boxes and had his vision impaired because of it. Collin recognized the two bots to having once been his nanny bots.

"Sonic, who are these bots?" Sally frowned as her boyfriend nearly dropped the box on his foot.

"Sal, Snively, these are Decoe and Bocoe, they belong to Dr. Eggman. Ace convinced him to give us some parts somehow… I was there the whole time and I still don't know how you did it, Ace." Sonic frowned as he looked at the happy go lucky fox.

Ace stopped and grinned deviously at the other three organics. "I only asked for the parts, Sonic, nothing more." She then started off towards the workshop where Dr. Hedgehog was working. "Come on you guys, we have to deliver these parts to Sir Charles or we'll take forever to get the derobotisizer online."

"Yes Ms. Dreamstar." The two bots said in a surprisingly happy voice. They had been treated kindly by the young fox, even though she was somehow related to Dr. Eggman.

Collin grimaced, grabbed a box, and started towards the workshop behind them. "I'll help."

"Great."


	6. Chapter 6

Decoe and Bocoe went regularly on trips between Eggman's base and Knothole Village. The speed of their trip was increased thanks to Jr. inventing a hover truck for them. Since they were not organic, they had no troubles from Dr. Robotnik as he didn't realize his half-brother was helping the Freedom Fighters.

Ace had other things to worry about though. She had noticed that two of the freedom fighters were slipping off some nights to do something. Usually, she wouldn't concern herself with other people's business, but since it was Antoine and Bartleby, she was worried. From her vantage point above the village, she had noticed Bartleby trying to continue being romantic to his fiancé, but noticed he felt like he was failing. She also noticed that Antione had stopped trying to woo Princess Sally, and was now bumbling in front of Bunny Rabbot more.

Ace decided to follow them one night, if only to be sure they wouldn't get hurt more than anything else. Ace followed silently through the trees as the two made their way towards the clearing next to the power ring pool. Her eyes widened as she saw them get out a set of sticks that were carved to look somewhat like swords. She smirked. The two were sparring. She lowered herself down as she watched the two practice, and listened in on their conversation. Bartleby and Antione seemed to be evenly matched, which to Ace didn't say much. They needed to work against someone of a higher level than themselves if they wanted to get better.

Their conversations did interest the blue fox though. Antione had apparently given up on going after Sally and had found a new interest in Bunny. He kept wondering why he had never thought of her like he currently was before; as a thing of pure beauty and an intelligent fighter to be feared. He wanted to truly impress her with skills, unlike his foolish attempts with Princess Sally.

Bartleby kept commenting on how he wanted to be there to protect Sonia like he should have been, rather than cowering behind her skirts, hoping someone else would save the day. He wanted to be her knight in shining armor, rather than just her rich boy lover. He didn't want to be sitting on the sidelines anymore as she constantly got into danger with her brothers and friends.

Ace smirked. It was a noble thing to be training for; true love. She decided to reveal herself to the two foolish Romeos. "Need a hand?" The two boys froze and looked at her with embarrassment. "Not bad for a couple of newbies, but your form is in need of improvement, and Antione, you carry a sword all the time, don't you? Did you not learn how to use it?"

"My father thought I was too young and Fuel-ish to learn how to use a sword. The sword I have is my father's, as it was all I could find of him after I found he was robotosized." The young coyote muttered in embarrassment. He was still practicing his English, as his native language could be called "French".

"Lot of good that does you now." Ace walked over to the young brown furred coyote and adjusted his position, then did the same to Bartleby. "Hold your stance like this while you duel. In time, I'll train you both to hold your own in a real fight. For now, just a simple fight will have to do."

"Are you saying that you're willing to help us?" Bartleby was surprised. He knew that Ace had been raised alongside Manic and Vixen, and though he didn't much like them because of their course nature, Ace seemed different.

"Of course, silly. You both are trying to become better fighters to defend your loves, right?" The two nodded slowly, wondering what she was aiming at. "Well then they'll be amazed that you care that much. Oh! And Antione, if you want to start courting Bunny, start with one of those poems that you used to make for Sally. I hear you used to make them a lot." Antione blushed.

"Yes, but they did not woo her, and she did not even like them."

"Maybe not, but if you make a poem for Bunny and really try hard, you might be able to at least get her attention. I can help there too if you want. Vixen and Manic were always laughing at how I was good at poetry, even though I never dated before." Ace suggested while pulling out her own wooden sword that she used for practicing. "When I think you two are ready, I'll start sparring with you as well."

"Really?" The two males were surprised. They didn't know that Ace could fight with a sword, never having seen her in battle before… nor did they really believe she was good at poetry, but eh, who really knew what this fox was capable of?

"Boys, I'm no fencer, but don't doubt me in a fight. I've got a wooden sword that can take off a swat bot's head!" She grinned.

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace had been in Knothole for almost five months now, and everyone was already seeing differences and improvements. From the return of three kings to the revealing of Snively secretly being a double agent named Colin, Ace had brought noticeable changes to Knothole Village, and most of them good.

Ace smirked as she watched the two noblemen attempting to dual once more. They had been practicing for a month now and the weather was getting colder. Antione and Bartleby had come a long way in such a short time, and Ace was happy to be their teacher. She had always wanted to be a teacher, able to help young ones with their problems and guide them through life like all the people in her life.

"Ace, if you don't mind my asking…" Bartleby asked as the two put started to put their swords away for the night. "Who taught you how to use a blade?"

Ace blinked in shock before looking at her pupils, who were both older than her. "No… I don't mind… I didn't expect to be asked that though… I learned how to use a sword from my mentor, and partner, Grog Greenstar."

"I can't say I've heard of him."

"Me neither…" Antione agreed.

Ace grimaced. "That's because he was in the same guild as me, Manic, and Vixen. The four of us were practically raised together as a team, or siblings. Grog was the most mature out of us…"

Antione and Bartleby paused as they noticed the young fox's sadness. "What is to have happened to him?" Antione asked as the two boys took a seat on the same log Ace was sitting on.

Ace took a deep breath and stood up. "I don't want to talk about it. Come on, the moon is rising high, and we need some sleep before we do our daily tasks." They hadn't seen her so distant since her father had been injured. The two nodded and followed her back to Knothole. After seeing the two boys off to their huts, Ace climbed up to her treehouse where she found her father waiting for her.

"Have a good time?"

"Yeah, I expect them to reach my level in a few more months."

"That fast, Ace?"

"Antione had some skills with the blade already. As for my own skill level, I'm not that great, dad. I just have enough to survive and defend for a time. My main skills in combat are for distance."

"Is something troubling you, Ace? You seem… sad."

"I got asked a question that I didn't want to answer. That's all." Ace sighed as she looked out onto the quiet village of Knothole and up to the starry night. "Hey, dad… what are all those bright lights up there anyway? I've been meaning to ask. Everyone around here just ignores them as though they're normal… even Manic and Vixen. We don't have these in the cities though… are they stars or something?"

Colin looked at his daughter, who was now leaning over the railing of the treehouse, with concern. "Why… yes, Ace. Those are stars..."

"Huh… they're pretty."

'Has she really not seen something like the stars before coming here? How much does she know, and how much is she missing?' Collin scratched his head, wondering what else he had neglected to teach her. "Ace… what else do you want to know?"

Ace looked up at her father with a grimace. "I know what helps Mobians to get better, and even what helps Seedarians and Humans to get better, but… dad, what really helps creatures like you and me to get better? I only did what I could for humans to help you, and it still didn't seem like enough…"

Collin grimaced. "Ace… fresh air and Sunlight are going to be your best friend. They are useful for anyone, but a decent conversation when one is ill also helps because of carbon dioxide that comes from being spoken to. Plants need that, but not too much for us because of the other set of genetics… I'm not sure if that helps you at all, but… I'm afraid that you and I are the only ones of our kind, so it's a little difficult to know what will be of real help to us."

Ace smiled. "Thanks, dad." She hugged her father like a little girl and then started for inside the hut. "Good night, Daddy."

Collin smiled back kindly to his daughter. "Good night, Ace." After Ace had left, he turned his own gaze back to the stars. 'What else does she want to know, but doesn't know how to ask? And what else is she hiding?'

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace, Vixen, Tails, and Sonic were on salvage duty in the city with Collin. Collin was only brought along so he could identify the pieces they would need to work on the derobotisizer. Ace was personally in charge of watching her father and making sure nothing happened to him, though King Max wanted her and the others to watch and make sure that he didn't return to his uncle's side.

Ace didn't mind though. She was getting the chance to do her job with her long ranged blaster on her shoulder. She hadn't brought it out for a while, since she was usually doing quick solo runs while the others were on missions. She checked the blaster once more, styled like a rifle. 'Full electrical charges for the swat bots… good." She then used the scope to check where everyone was. Vixen and Collin were searching for certain pieces for the derobotisizer in one part, and Sonic was with Tails looking for pieces for improving the defenses around Knothole in another area of the junkyard. Ace had positioned herself in the shadows of one of the towers. She was high in the sky on a ledge while still being close enough to everyone to signal them or defend them. She knew what she was doing. She was in her element. Stealth, silence, danger, distance; these were her elements. Nothing could take her on at this point. Nothing that is, that wanted to keep its insides inside itself.

***Freedom Fighters***

Antione and Bartleby had decided to get some answers, and they knew that Manic was the hedgehog with the answers they wanted. Though Bartleby usually avoided Manic, he found that for once he needed something the thief would be the only one selling; the answers to Ace's past.

"Manic…" The green hedgehog looked over to the mink with question in his eyes. Especially when he saw him looking concerned about something. "Do you have a minute?"

"Uh… sure… what's up?" Sonia had asked him to at least try to get along with Bartleby for her sake, and he was willing to try… but only for his sister's sake.

"We need to ask you something about… about Ace."

Manic blinked in shock and looked between the mink and the coyote. "What about Ace?"

"She is sad." Antione explained as best as he could. "We asked her a question and she… how she says… Shut down?"

Manic's gaze turned into a slight glare. "What question?"

"We asked her who taught her how to use a sword." Bartleby had never seen Manic so upset before, save for when someone talked down about him and his siblings.

Manic's expression changed from anger to concern faster than Sonic could scarf a chilidog. "You asked her about that!"

"Yes, well… she said her partner, Grog is to have been teaching her."

"Yes, but after we asked what happened to Grog, she became silent and just as Antione said, she practically shut down."

Manic sighed while scratching the spines on the back of his head. "That's because she still feels responsible for him… Grog was robotosized about two years ago." Manic sat himself down on a nearby log as he tried to think about what he had just been told and how to explain Ace's mood. "Ace was the youngest of our group. She was an outsider, brought in by Feral, the head of our little guild. Feral said that her dad had asked him to watch out for her. He assigned her to Grog to learn how to survive. Grog's partners never stayed. He always seemed too cold for them. He was an orphan who had been raised by Feral since he was one… Ace didn't care about that though. Whenever he didn't speak to her, she took it to mean she was doing something wrong…"

"Really? Was he that cold to her?" Bartleby asked as he also sat down, predicting this to be a long story.

Manic laughed. "Naw, Ace figured it out. When Grog went silent, he was trying to figure out how to explain what to do better. When he talked, she listened. Grog was on me and Vixen's special team. We were mainly for getting supplies, but also for keeping everyone safe. Ace became part of our team when she was partnered to Grog. Ace became Grog's backup, learning how to do what he couldn't. Grog taught her to use a sword, but Ace also learned how to make and use a blaster rifle. Ace can use any long ranged weapon as well as a thief can use their hands."

"Sacre bleu cheese! Zat sounds Magnific!"

"Yeah, and after a while, whenever Ace did something good that Grog or one of us hadn't thought of, Grog gave a small smile. I don't think I saw Ace's smile get any bigger than when that happened." Manic smirked as he remembered the first time it happened. Then he sighed again to continue on with the story. "A couple of years ago, after I had gone back to the guild to keep check with the Freedom Fighters, Ace and Grog went out on a routine rescue. Ace came back with everyone but Grog… the only thing she would say was that she should have thought of something else. She just kept crying. She didn't leave her room for a whole month."

"Zat is terrible!"

"I agree. Do you have any idea on what happened to him?"

"None, only that Ace managed to say that if she had been faster, she'd have been able to save him from the Robotosizer." Manic scowled. "She's only eighteen. She doesn't need to be thinking like that. She was only sixteen when it happened…"

"She is only eighteen?" Bartleby was shocked. The way she acted during training, she could have been much older, but looking back on it, at other times, she could have easily been confused for a child, especially considering her height. "That makes her eight years younger than you and Sonia!"

"Not to mention, five years younger than ze princess!"

Manic smirked. "I hear that makes her two years younger than Tails really is, even though he was found as a toddler and didn't know his age." Then Manic chuckled. "That should teach you not to underestimate Ace. She's a lot tougher than she looks." Manic then sighed once more. 'But she is still just a kid…'

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace smirked as she shot off her rifle. She kept watch on the two teams below her. Sonic and Tails looked at each other, knowing it was the signal that they were possibly in danger. Collin had surprised her by pulling out his own hoverboard from his bag and making it grow when Vixen told him what the gunshot meant. Ace had shot a swat bot that had gotten too close. Ace took a deep breath and one last look at the amazing view from her perch, even if it was of a disgusting city. She then jumped off of the tower as she continued shooting bots that were coming closer to her every second. She let herself free fall with bots foolishly following her. At the last moment, she flipped and used her tails to save herself as the bots crashed behind her. She couldn't help but laugh like a little girl as she flew through the wreckage and towards her friends. Collin smirked as Ace jumped behind him on his hoverboard. Vixen was riding hers while Sonic and Tails were running/ flying right next to them.

"Nice shot. I can see why they call you Ace now." Sonic chuckled.

Ace smiled a wide smile. "Yep, but it's actually short for 'Accelerated'! Now, let's make like the trees and Leaf this place."

Collin rolled his eyes at her joke while Vixen and the others chuckled. 'Maybe a joke book for her next birthday… Christmas is closer though…'

***Freedom Fighters***

"Hey, Ace?" The young fox turned towards Sonic with a smirk on her face. "Got a minute?" They had finished delivering the parts to the scientists in Sir Charles' hut and Ace was cleaning her blaster rifle.

"What's up?"

"Antione and Bartleby told me what you've been doing for them."

"Oh?" Ace raised an eyebrow, curious to see where this was going. "So…?"

"Thanks."

"No prob…" Ace shrugged. 'They needed the help.'

Sonic wanted to ask about Grog, but had a feeling that would be trouble. "Think you could teach me to use a sword?"

Ace smirked. "I don't see why not. You're building your own sword though."

"Deal." Sonic grinned. 'Maybe this will help me know her better…'


	7. Chapter 7

It had been bound to happen one of these days. Ace had been captured. It had been another routine mission when some bots had come out of nowhere. Robotnik had apparently come up with a cloaking device of some sort. They had almost gotten Sonic, when Ace pushed him out of the way and into a sewer hatch that she had opened and waiting for him. Sonic watched in horror as she was knocked unconscious with a beam, and brought to Robotnik's headquarters. Ace was captured! Sonic followed the bots, hoping to find an opening to save her before she was robotosized. She had risked her life to save him. The least he could do was save her!

Sonic was surprised when she was dragged into the chamber and thrown in front of Robotnik instead of instantly into the machine. She shook her head as she woke up from being tossed to the ground unceremoniously. Sonic was hiding in the vents just above her. There were some robotosized servants in the room who had been doing Robotnik's will.

Sonic hoped that Ace was as tough as she seemed and wouldn't talk. 'Not likely, she's got to protect her dad, Manic, and Vixen, not to mention the rest of Knothole.'

"Well, well, who do we have here?" Robotnik asked as he turned around to look at the blue two tailed fox in front of him. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before."

Ace stood up and dusted herself off. She looked at the fat man in front of her without a care, as though he was simply a rock. "No, this is my first time getting caught. I do compliment you on your stealth droids, but instead of capturing a blue hedgehog, your robots have captured a blue she-demon instead, as your associates in the Kingdom of Rings call me." She sounded so formal that it shocked the tyrant while making the young prince above her smirk.

"Is that so? Well then, you're just as bad as the hedgehog. Always causing trouble. Tell me, what is there to gain from causing such a copious amount of trouble?" Robotnik was in a good mood, having learned that he had one of the most annoying Freedom Fighters in his clutches, though he was unnerved by how calm she was.

Ace shrugged. "Time, I guess."

"Time?"

"Time. Every move I make gives more time to those who need it. This for example. You don't know how close we are to ending this game. I've gathered just about all my pieces. You have all of yours. It's time to see who wins."

"Ah, you seem so sure of the team you've chosen." They talked as though playing chess.

"I should be. I was told the outcome beforehand." Ace smirked as she crossed her arms. "Mind you, I was also told of the chance that I wouldn't actually be around to see the outcome, but eh, doesn't really bother me." Sonic's eyes widened in shock and fear. Who would tell her that?

"Then I suppose you don't mind if your end comes here?"

"Oh, I mind, I'm still going to fight. I just wouldn't be all too surprised." Ace got into a simple fighting stance as she drew her sword. It was a simple blade with a blue jewel of some kind on the hilt.

"Funny, I thought the guards would have disarmed you."

"There's a glitch in your system, apparently."

"Apparently. Now, before your inevitable Robotinization, how about I get your name. I like to know these things so that I can put it down in my little book and finally have a name for such a pain as you, Blue She-demon."

Ace shrugged. "If you think my name is something you really want to hear, then I won't deny you something so simple. Aren't you curious about your nephew though?"

"My nephew?" Ace was pushing all the right buttons to get this man's curiosity set in motion. Sonic had his eyes on one of the robotosized minions in the room. He looked like he was working on the Robotosizer, only something was off about him. He kept checking on both Ace and Robotnik, as though trying to hide something. His expression was also something different from the vacant expressions on the other people. This one was… angry!

"Yeah. You know, Collin Eggman? The short bald guy you call 'Snively'?"

"What about him?"

"Don't you want to know why I rescued him?" Sonic didn't need to be a genius to know that she was going to annoy the fat man more than anything Sonic had ever done before.

"Alright, why?"

"My name is Accelerated Lunar Dreaming Starflower Eggman, or more commonly, I'm Ace Lunar Dreamstar, the daughter of Sir Collin Eggman. Does that explain everything, or do I need to dumb it down for ya, Julian?"

Sonic winced as he realized what Ace had just done. "That's impossible, and how dare you call me that! I'm Dr. Robotnik! ROBOTNIK!"

"Yeah, you're Dr. Julian Robotnik, the guy who goes weak kneed whenever his mother yells at him for not being good enough." Ace's stance didn't change as she glared with a smirk at her great uncle.

'Ace isn't afraid of death… or of being Robotosized!' Sonic realized with fear as he thought back to what he found that she really was afraid of. 'She's afraid of losing the people she cares about! But that means… she has no sense of… she doesn't… she doesn't care what happens to her so long as everyone else is alright!'

"That's it, Robotosize her!" Sonic's eyes widened in fear as Ace was disarmed and attacked by the servants. If she hadn't been attacked by Robotosized citizens, Sonic was sure she could have taken them.

The strange robotosized fox who had been working on the machine stood in front of her as she showed a pained look at him. 'She knows him!' Sonic realized. He stealthily made his way out and above the two with his anti-gravity shoes so he could grab Ace.

Much to Sonic, and Robotnik's, surprise, the robotic fox grabbed Ace by her waist and threw her up into the air at the blue hedgehog. "Whatcha waiting for, blue boy? Get her back to Manic and keep her away from here!" The tone was similar to cold steel as the robot threw something at the Robotosizer, destroying it for the meantime. The fox looked up at the two blue creatures. "You still here? Move it!" Sonic and Ace climbed back into the vent, but Ace didn't move farther in. If anything, she leaned out and reached a hand out to the robotic fox.

"Grog, come on! Don't do this to me again, please!" She actually sounded angry with a slight bit of desperation for once.

"GUARDS!" Robotnik shouted as the robotic fox fended off the other robotosized creatures and robots.

"GROG!" Ace's voice raised slightly in octaves as she looked between the fox and the blob who was shouting for backup.

Grog, as the green metallic fox was called, looked up to the blonde haired, blue furred fox who was looking at him with a glare that only he could tell was holding back tears. "Damn it, Ace!" He grabbed the fox's hands and the two were pulled into the vents by Sonic. "Now will you move it, kid?" The blue fox nodded, turning back into her serious mode as the green fox handed her the sword he had picked up from the ground.

Sonic was only slightly confused, but knew better than to question it as they made their way through the vents. They were almost killed when the fire extinguishers shot their foam into the vents, but thanks to Sonic's quick thinking, they fell into the foam harmlessly as they escaped. Unfortunately, as they escaped, Ace took a laser shot to the shoulder for Sonic, and Grog quickly picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Darn kid, always taking punishment, thinking it's her damn job." The robot muttered as he followed Sonic. Sonic was impressed that his design allowed him to keep up at a faster pace. Apparently, Grog had fiddled with his design and placed jets in his heels as one of his upgrades. "You're Sonic, huh?"

"How'd ya know that?"

"I'm one of Manic's best friends, if that means anything. Name's Grog Greenstar."

"Interesting name."

"This coming from a guy who's name is what his special ability is?"

"Touché." The hedgehog smirked as they stopped at the forest. Ace had regained consciousness. "You okay, Ace?"

Ace shook her head to clear her mind as she stood up. Then she glared at the green robotic fox. "You idiot." This startled the hedgehog as he backed up while she advanced upon the fox-bot. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" tears were streaming down her face at this point.

"This is about when I got robotosized, isn't it?" Grog kept his tone as cold as stone as the slightly smaller fox let off steam.

"WHAT ELSE WOULD IT BE ABOUT? WE COULD HAVE HANDLED IT!" This was the first time that Sonic had seen the blue fox lose her cool in such a way. It was sort of startling to know that she even had a temper. "WE COULD HAVE BOTH DEALT WITH IT AND THEN YOU WOULDN'T BE LIKE THIS!"

"That, or we all would have been robotosized." Grog said calmly, trying to get the girl to calm down.

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!"

"I know that you're overreacting. Take a deep breath and calm down, kid."

Much to Sonic's surprise, the girl just glared at the bigger fox before doing as he had asked. "Fine…" It took a few minutes to calm down, and thankfully they were far enough away that no swat bots would be able to get them without them seeing them miles away first. "We could have handled it though… how'd you get your mind back?" Ace sniffled as she wiped away the last few tears.

That was a good question as it was usually extremely difficult to get a robotosized person to remember who they were. Grog gave a small smirk that only Ace noticed. 'She always did ask the best questions.' He then brought out a small dagger that had a similar jewel to the one on Ace's sword. "Turns out, this is a type of power stone. It's called a Dream Stone. Very powerful if used correctly. I managed to keep my dagger on me when I was being robotosized. Guess the dagger was lucky after all." He smirked as he handed over the dagger.

Ace examined it carefully, as though trying to decide if it was real or not. She handed it back and sighed with relief as the fox put it back into the pouch it belonged, in a pocket on the right side of his belt, though the belt was now robotosized as well. "I take it you managed to sneak into a library to find that out..." Grog nodded. "…and that you couldn't have told us you were fine? Or at least that your mind was intact?" Ace growled. Grog didn't flinch, but Ace saw the small tinge of sadness in his gaze. She sighed. "You really had me worried there. You know what my thoughts are on the Robotosized…" She had her left hand rub her right arm as she glanced to the side, an old nervous habit.

"Yeah, as good as dead unless you managed to wake them up, heh." It was a cold joke and statement that made Sonic wince. It made sense, considering how they weren't able to respond with anything other than "Must capture Freedom Fighters". Grog seemed cold though, so it sorta fit. "I'm gonna go find somewhere to stay. Obviously, the bot man isn't gonna wanna see me for anything other than you guys location, kid."

Sonic didn't know much about this guy, but he already knew that Ace trusted him, and Ace didn't trust easily. "You're coming with us to Knothole." The two foxes looked at Sonic. Ace was looking at him with confusion while Grog didn't look like he had any emotions in his face. It was somewhat unnerving. "No way you're getting out of it."

"Sonic… I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I'm robotosized. No one's gonna trust me unless it's the kid." He then turned to the young fox in general. "You're way too trusting still, by the way."

Sonic looked at the two foxes with weird confusion. Ace? Trusting? The girl was the most secretive person he knew! "Okay, obviously I'm missing something here if you think Ace is too trusting." Ace was blushing while looking away from both boys. "As for the robotosized factor, my uncle, Chuck was robotosized, and he's trusted because he fought it and has his mind back. My pals, Jr. and his wife, Breezy, are both full blown robots, and always have been, and they're trusted by everyone. That's just the bots! That's not even counting Ace's old man."

For the first time in the conversation, Grog had an expression. It was a mix between confusion, concern, and the usual glare he seemed to have. "Your old man?" He was looking at Ace as he asked this.

"Yeah… I… I had to pull him out… didn't ya hear me talking to Robotnik?" Ace muttered.

"I heard it, but I didn't think you'd have the guts to bring a human that almost everyone hates to a village full of people who would like to kill him." Grog kept that unimpressed look on his face. It was starting to annoy Sonic.

"What's with you guys and the lack of emotions anyway?"

"Huh?" The two foxes looked at him confused.

"Ace, you rarely show emotions. Grog, you're just as bad if not worse! I can't tell what you two are thinking!" Sonic grumbled as he crossed his arms.

Grog glared at the girl as she blushed harder and looked away. "The kid? Every single twitch shows her emotions. She's an open book!"

"Oh yeah, then tell me what she's feeling right now, because to me it just looks like you two are having a glaring contest." Sonic fumed.

"She's embarrassed because she didn't think that I'd figure out a way to use the dagger she gave me since I'm usually a swordsman. She's annoyed that this is how we run into each other again after the past few years and that you find out about me this way. She is also ticked off that I can still do this." Grog just rolled off the emotions of the younger fox as though he was listing off a grocery list. "Am I missing anything?"

Ace glared at him. "The usual one emotion that you always miss, but I'm not in the mood to announce it at the moment. Come on, it's getting late. Sonic, we still have what we came for?"

Sonic checked his bag and brought out the pieces, including some from the Robotosizer itself. He had grabbed some of the pieces before Grog had destroyed it and sent Ace up to him. "Yep, now let's go before Sal and the others get worried." Then he turned to Grog. "Manic and Vixen are gonna wanna talk with you too, so you are not getting out of this one."

Grog looked the hedgehog square in the eyes, being about his height while Ace was only about an inch or two shorter than them. Sonic felt shock go through his system as he realized that the robotic fox was looking for something… but what?

"Heh, I'll never understand why it's either hedgehogs, girls, or blue that I gotta deal with. Alright, lead the way, your majesty." This time the fox openly smirked as he backed away and looked to Ace. "Relax, kid, I didn't do anything to him, and you know it." Ace simply nodded. What had she been worried about?

***Freedom Fighters***

Ace had been angry when she dragged the green metallic fox into Knothole. Sonic made his way over to Sally and Sir Charles to give them the parts as Ace called for Manic and Vixen. The two came as fast as they could and were shocked to find Ace and Grog had already started arguing again. The four of them seemed to start arguing about something trivial and a few names were thrown, but by the end of it, Ace and Grog were smirking while the other two were laughing. Sonic explained what he knew to Charles and Sally, and he still felt lost. Now there were two foxes that had trouble showing emotion!

Then he spotted Collin. Collin was leaning up against the lab with a smirk of his own on his face. "Yo, Snively." Collin looked at the blue menace that had made him bald. It was just tradition now for them to call each other names. It would be too weird for them to not do it.

"What is it, Hedgehog?"

"You know that guy with your daughter?"

Collin took a quick glance back at the foxes before responding. "Daniel Waters, son of Sir Mark Waters and Lady Della Waters. Orphaned during the first part of the war. Daniel was raised in the Kingdom of Rings by Sir Feral Bug till Feral was robotosized. Daniel was robotosized two years ago while helping Ace rescue some children. He goes by the name Grog Greenstar because he doesn't like fancy titles making people judge how he should act. Anything else you want to know would have to come from the source." Collin grinned at the shocked look on Sonic's face. It was priceless. "What? I get a file for every person who's robotosized, that includes their name and origins. Also, in the few letters that Ace was able to send me, she told me a bit about her life in the Thieves Guild and of her partner. I'm just surprised he has his mental facilities functioning in his favor."

"He… said it had something to do with a dream stone and a dagger." Sonic stuttered a little as he tried to wrap his mind around all of this. "You know how to read him? I can't read either of them now."

"Heh, I can only read Ace because I know her. I'm afraid I might not be so good at reading Grog's face. He's like his father in that respect, always trying to hide so others don't worry. Why not ask your brother? He seems to be able to read him."

"Yeah… yeah, that's… a good idea, thanks."

"Heh, not a problem. I'll try and get your father to help me set up a hut for Grog."

"Right…"

***Freedom Fighters***

"Oh my god, Grog, what the hell!" Manic was the first to react as he saw one of his oldest friends being dragged towards him by Ace. Ace was practically livid by the looks of it. He noticed his brother run off toward their uncle and Sally to talk. The fact that he was a robot did not seem to deter the young hedgehog's anger into fear like it would have under normal circumstances.

"Grog, you had better have one hell of a reason for getting caught!" Vixen snarled as she approached the other foxes. Ace had stopped pulling at the edge of the village where the four of them could argue without too much trouble.

"I was trying to distract the bots from the kids and Ace. **_So_** sorry that I got shot in the back before I could dive into a sewer tunnel." The metallic green fox snarled back as they started to all get up in each other's faces. Grog was the tallest of the four by a few inches, making him taller than Collin by only his ears, otherwise, he was Collin's height.

Ace kept quiet throughout the whole argument. She had already scolded him and such and explained everything that had happened since he had been robotosized. It took Vixen only thirty more seconds before she came to the same conclusion that Manic did. "The squirt scolded you already, didn't she?" It wasn't often that the group addressed Ace as "squirt" anymore. She had always been the smallest of the group, and now was no exception.

"Yes, now who taught her how to raise hell with that tongue of hers?"

Ace grimaced as Vixen tried to stifle a chuckle. "She picked it up around everyone I think. She started that after you were gone."

"At least I didn't try to take down Robotnik on my own, Vixen."

"Hey! I was eight! I'm allowed to be a bit of a hothead then!"

"Heh, yeah, but we still had to pull you out of the Robotosizer!" Manic grinned while Grog shook his head slowly with a small smirk on his face.

The group then went silent as they looked at Grog who had been robotosized. Grog didn't want them all to pity him, nor did he want them to be upset because of his actions. "At least I'm still smarter than you three." Grog pointed out in a joking manner that caused all four friends to laugh. They would be fine, so long as they stuck together.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the hottest day of the year, and it was fall! Ace grumbled as she awoke feeling dry. It was late afternoon! Collin was already up and working around the treehouse, seemingly unaffected by the heat. Ace slowly made her way out of her room to the main area, only to see her father look at her with concern.

"What?"

"Um… your hair is slightly… brown… Not to mention the time of day, you are usually up earlier…" Collin pointed out as he made his way over to the young lady. "You also seem to be off color. Are you alright, Ace?"

Ace blinked as she made her way over to the mirror and looked in horror at her wilting form. "Well shoot. I'm wilting!" Her fur was browning and seemed to be drooping like a dried up flower that you forgot to water.

Collin grimaced. She was sorta right given her origins. "I'll get you some water, have a seat. Maybe we can get you to the lake without the others noticing?"

"Doubt it, I'm too tired to fly." Ace slumped into a chair, starting to feel weak. "Figures, I'm not human enough to be unaffected… what's your secret, Dad?"

"I'm afraid that I just drink more water than you, Ace." He pointed out the water bottle he always carried now that he lived in the forest. "How have you dealt with this before?"

"I stayed in my room and played sick while lying down on some cold metal and bricks and drinking a lot of water and little food."

Collin sighed. "It's a start." Ace gratefully accepted the water and drank it all in one gulp. "Ace, don't drink too fast or you'll hurt yourself."

"Sorry, I'm just…"

"Wilting, I know. We'll figure something out. I'm going to check on my sister. She's staying in her own hut now and is probably not used to the heat either. Keep drinking water, Ace."

"Right…" Ace walked slowly over to her fridge, though who really knew how it kept things cold in a tree house. She pulled out some ice and an oversized water bottle that was filled to the brim, and then made her way back to her room.

Collin gave a quick worried glance before making his way down the ladder to the rest of the village. Everyone all seemed to agree that it was hotter than normal. Cosmo had taken refuge at the river nearby, and Collin wondered if there was a way to bring Ace there without causing her trouble, as it was evident that she hadn't revealed her origins exactly. Much to his surprise, he had found Grog sitting out on the edge of the river while Manic and Vixen were splashing in the water.

Grog noticed him and waived, as did a few of the others. It was indeed one of the warmest fall seasons they had dealt with. "Yo, Doc, is the kid sick today?"

"I assume you mean Ace? Yes, she's not feeling her usual chipper self. How did you know?" Collin asked as he drank some more of his water bottle.

"The Kid always gets sick on the warmest days. Figure it's cuz she's an arctic fox."

Collin raised a brow in amusement. "That's one way to think on that. It shouldn't happen too often though."

"Naw, just when the temperature is over 90 degrees. Strange though, I wouldn't think the forest would get this warm."

Collin's eyes then widened in fear as his magic did a quick sensory. The temperature was indeed too high for this particular forest! "It shouldn't be… Oh please no!" Collin then ran off. As he ran, he passed Sonic and some of the others who were also heading towards the rivers and the nearby lake.

Sonic kept up with him as he ran while the others kept heading towards the lake. "Yo, Doc, what's the deal? Water's the other way."

"The temperature is too hot for not only this time of year, but also this climate. Remember my uncle's weather machine?"

"Yeah, that thing nearly froze us solid, so what?"

"I think he might have reversed it!" Collin kept running as fast as he could, feeling more and more solar energy running through him, but he was starting to dehydrate quickly as well. There were some good things about being a half Seedarian, half human… it didn't stop him from getting out of breath though as he ran.

"That's bad, right?"

"Let me put it this way; there is a temperature where forest fires can start all on their own, and we are nearing it rapidly." Collin explained as his speed started to increase, much to Sonic's surprise. "Ace seems to be sensitive to temperatures of over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but I'm sensing the temperature just keeps rising, soon we're all going to be sensitive to it and if it keeps rising, we'll also get more than just a few nasty sunburns!" The two skidded to a stop at the edge of the forest where they found Robotnik was banging on an over complicated looking tower of a machine. "Um…?"

"WHY WON'T THIS WORK?" Robotnik screamed out in anger.

"Um… Uncle Julian?" Collin asked as he slowly made his way over. Sonic stayed in the plants, wondering what was going on. Robotnik could get absent minded, but he hated being called Julian. "If this isn't your latest plan, then what are you doing here at the edge of the forest with the old weather machine?"

"SNIVELY!" Robotnik turned on the shorter man with impressive speed, his dark red eyes glaring at the shorter scientist. "What are you doing here?"

Collin, much to the fat man's surprise, didn't flinch or even bat an eye. He no longer seemed timid. "This is the great forest. It is the center of the four kingdoms without being a part of any of them. You may have conquered the four kingdoms, Julian, but this is a territory onto itself." Collin gave a glance over to the machine. "SO, what did you do this time, you overstuffed toad?"

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

Once more, Collin didn't back down. He glared at his uncle with no fear in his eyes. "I said, WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME, YOU OVERSTUFFED TOAD!" Collin shouted back. Sonic was snickering from his hiding spot among the trees. Robotnik was getting more and more pissed off though.

He grabbed Collin by the throat, causing the shorter man to squirm as he tried to get some air in his lungs. He then threw the short scientist up against the machine and growled. "You moronic nitwit! You ungrateful fool! I may not be able get this thing to freeze your precious forest anymore, but I can still get rid of you, you traitor!"

Collin picked himself up slowly, slightly bruised, he chuckled. "You really think it'll still freeze? Pfft! Sonic and his friends busted that thing years ago, and I KNOW you haven't fixed it properly! And as for the traitor part, I told you when we started this mess that I was still loyal to the kingdoms, that I wasn't going to let you win. Not my fault you're delusional." Collin took the chance to look over the machine and groan. "Seriously? The antennae is bent still, and the wiring's probably all wrong. Tell me again how you conquered the other three kingdoms and kept them without me? I swear, it's no wonder you've been beaten by children and teenagers." Robotnik tried to blast Collin with something, only for the shorter genius to sidestep out of the way. "Really? I'm not even Sonic, and I dodged that." The short scientist sneered. "Give me a minute, I have to fix your mistakes," Collin stomped his feet. "AGAIN!" Collin then made his way into the broken tower to attempt to stop the heatwave it generated.

Sonic came out of hiding and started spinning around Robotnik while Collin fixed the weather to a nicer fall setting before dismantling it. Collin then made his way down and out of the tower in time to see Robotnik get into one of his flying machines so he could get away with Sonic still trashing the nearby bots that had arrived.

"OH, hey, Doc. You done finally?" Sonic smirked as he finished the last of the bots.

"Yes, sorry it took so long, Sonic. I had to figure out how to reverse it without it blowing up in my face for once. No need to let it after all, now that you know I'm on your side. Takes a little longer, you understand." Collin smirked. He also held a bag of spare parts he had taken from the machine.

Sonic chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, no worries. He just sent out a few more bots is all. No sweat. Nice job by the way, it's already feeling cooler."

Collin smiled at that as he looked up at the cool fall sky that's sun was starting to set. "Let's head back to the village."

"Right… Hey, Dr. Collin?"

"Yes, Prince Sonic?" It was a sort of unspoken rule that when the two addressed the other by their title, that it should be returned in kind.

"What you said about Knothole, is it true?"

"You mean about it being its own territory? Well yes, your parents wanted it to be a safe place for all four kingdoms, as well as a meeting place where no one would be able to have the higher ground. I guess no one's gotten around to showing you an actual map of the territories since you've always ran all over the planet." The two reached the edge of the village and waived to the guard on duty as they entered. "I'd best check up on Ace, she wasn't feeling too well when I left this afternoon."

"Yeah? Huh, where has the day gone, am I right?"

"Hehe, well, to be fair, you did run at my speed to go check up on Robotnik. I'm surprised you went so slow."

"Uh, actually, you picked up speed as we were going." Sonic pointed out.

"Yes, that tends to happen when I absorb sunlight, but I know I can't go as fast as you, even in the desert on the sunniest day." Collin pointed out.

"So… you're like… solar powered?"

Collin chuckled. "I'm half Seedarian, Sonic. My sister is a full blooded Seedarian and my daughter… well she's got her own special traits as well as being part Seedarian. If you think the small amount of magic that I've shown you so far is impressive, then you haven't seen theirs. Cosmo may not be the most powerful person on Mobius, but she's quite capable of handling herself… when she remembers she has magic."

"She has magic?"

"Yes, a weaker strand, you understand. See, from what I'm told, female Seedarians have a weaker magic for some reason than the male Seedarians. My magic is slightly weaker than the females because of my human DNA, what with my father having no magic in his blood. Cosmo's magic is usually focused on healing and boosting abilities though." Collin explained as they reached his tree. He started to climb. "From what I've seen of Ace, her magic is almost definitely more powerful than Cosmo's, but I'm afraid I couldn't tell you if she's as powerful as male Seedarians or not, never having met one before."

"I've met the Meterix, but I couldn't tell ya what magic they had."

"Heh, from what I've heard, surviving that encounter alone must have been amazing." Collin opened the hatch to the treehouse. "Ace, I'm back. Sonic is here too, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. I'm just still a little… wilted…" Came Ace's voice from her room. "The temperature is more tolerable though, must be the sun setting…"

"Hehe, must be…"

"Wilted?" Sonic asked as he came up. Ace came out of her room to fill up her water bottle again. "WHOA!" Ace looked slightly brown, but she was better than she had been earlier. "What happened to you?"

Ace raised an eyebrow. "What part of I'm wilting do you just not get?"

"Uh…" Sonic was dumbfounded. He had never seen anyone but a chameleon change colors, and even Espio didn't change to stand out.

Collin shrugged as he also filled up his water. He had been pretty close to dehydrating also. "You know, you could have stayed in there and asked me to bring you some water."

"I know, but I figure they were going to bug anyway. Some of them already ask weird questions." Ace shrugged, consuming more water and regaining more of her natural blue color and yellow blonde hair.

"Oh? What's the weirdest question we've asked you then, Ace?" Sonic asked while tapping his foot. He still didn't get it. He understood that she was part Seedarian, but even Cosmo and Collin didn't seem to "Wilt" as she had put it. Did they?

"Where's my mother or who my mother is. Those are the weirdest questions I've ever been asked, hehe." Ace grimaced.

Collin blushed at that and looked away. He himself wasn't quite sure how to answer that one. That wasn't to say he couldn't answer it, it was more along the lines of would anyone believe it? Ace's story was indeed something of a very impressive story, if not a bizarre one.

"And why are those the weirdest? I would have thought someone asking about your tails would have been weirder." Sonic inputted as Ace handed him a glass of water.

"HA, ever ask Tails what the weirdest question he's been asked was? So we got born with too many chemicals in us and an extra tail as the result, so what? Just makes us have the ability to fly, doesn't hurt us any." Ace shrugged.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why that's the weirdest." Sonic pointed out as the Eggman family sat down with their guest at a wooden table. The father and daughter looked at each other and then away, as though the reason was painful or strange. Sonic then felt ashamed. "Sorry, I guess it's too intrusive…"

"Um, well, it's not really, but…" Collin looked at his daughter with concern.

Ace let out a huff of a laugh. "It's not intrusive if I already know that you would all eventually figure it out, Sonic. Goodness knows, I already told Manic, Vixen, and Grog, and they didn't believe me. Heh…" Ace had her color back now, but she still had a gaze of trouble on her face. "You know how me and my father are related to Dr. Robotnik…"

"Yeah, through your grandfather being his half-brother, so?"

"So, I am not exactly normal. *Sigh* Unlike everyone else on the planet, I truly do not _have_ a mother…"

"So… she died when you were a baby or something?"

Collin grimaced. "No… she's being quite literal… Ace has no mother, save for Mother Nature…"

"Huh?" Sonic scratched his head. "How is that possible?"

"Heh, my full name is Acceleratia Lunar Dreaming Starflower Eggman. It's not just to sound pretty or mean something strange. I am an Ace in the hole, something that no one knew of or expected. Robotnik has access to all the files of everyone on the planet, including birth records, but he doesn't have a thing on me other than what I've told him. Acceleratia is my name because of my accelerated growth, and because it's a longer version of Ace. A Lunar Dreaming Starflower is a type of rose from the frozen tundra, often called the Arctic Fox Rose, due to its strange coloring which hides it from many. I was originally this rose." Sonic raised an eyebrow at that. "My last name is Eggman for obvious reasons though." Ace looked at her hands as though they held the answer to some mystery. "I am a lab accident."

"One I don't regret." Collin reminded Ace for what must have been the millionth time since the young lady had been created. "As I've told you countless times…"

Ace smirked at that. Sonic however frowned. He knew all types of strange things came from Eggman's lab, and that wasn't even counting what he knew came from Robotnik. He thought about what he did know. Junior and Breezy came from Robotnik, as did Shadow's nanny and guardian angel, Mariah Robotnik, and they were all good people. Ace had been with Manic and Vixen for years, and from what Manic had told him, the green prince of thieves practically owed his life to the young lady.

"Well, at least you're here with us, Ace." Sonic chuckled. "Besides, as you and Amy have proven, some flowers tend to have thorns." Ace grimaced as her ears flattened forward and her tails wrapped around her, something Sonic had never seen happen before. "Um… you okay?"

Collin chuckled at his daughter's reaction. "You still don't know how to take a compliment, do you, Ace."

"Ah, shut up, Dad." Ace's face scrunched up, her nose wriggled a bit to show that it was a bit longer than most Mobians, probably due to her father's DNA. "It always sounds funny when people compliment me, okay."

This time Sonic smirked. "Why's that, Ace?"

"Because most of them don't make sense or just aren't true."

"Oh?"

"YES!"

Collin chuckled again. "Well at least you're back to yourself now rather than your wilted form."

Ace rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going downstairs to join the rest of the village for dinner since I'm fine now. You two joining or what?"


End file.
